Aunt Sam
by xxodanielle
Summary: What happens when Jazz goes on an urgent business trip, leaving Sam, who still despises children, and Danny to babysit her seven-year-old daughter until she gets back? Will this experience finally get her to like children or will it just make things worse?
1. Introduction

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Danny Phantom. I only own Amaya!

* * *

**Chapter One**

**...**

Sam didn't care for children.

In her opinion, they were nothing but tiny nuisances. All they did was run around, throw tantrums, and obnoxiously kick the back of someone's seat on an airplane. Not all of them were like that, but the ones she unfortunately encountered were exactly like that.

She felt that way from the time she was fourteen all the way up to her current age, which was now three months shy of twenty-nine. Life for her was going pretty well: she was married to her high school sweetheart, she was financially stable, and she was in a great state of mind.

She just didn't want any children.

However, that wasn't the case for her husband, Danny. He wanted a child; a son, to be exact. Though he never pressured her into having a baby or even touched on the subject that much, it was clear to her just how badly he wanted one.

Whenever they went to the store and passed through the baby section to get to another aisle, he was always more attentive to the items on the shelves than usual. He was also like that whenever he saw a couple and their child passing them by, so that's when Sam knew for sure that he was ready for one.

It probably didn't help that Jazz had a child of her own. She had a seven-year-old daughter named Amaya. She was a single mom, so whenever Jack and Maddie weren't able to look after Amaya, Danny often went over to babysit her. Since Sam was usually busy while that happened, she never saw much of the girl.

She knew that Danny absolutely adored her, though. He brought her up almost all the time and genuinely seemed happy around her. He was a great uncle, and Sam knew that if, by chance, they ever had a child, he'd be a fantastic father as well.

"I brought us something to eat," she announced, carrying a bowl of grapes outside to him. Since it was a warm and peaceful evening, they both had decided to lounge on a hammock that they kept in the backyard of their house.

As she climbed into the hammock with him, he studied the grapes inside of the bowl with a grimace. "Something to eat means actual food, like a steak or a hamburger. I prefer those over grapes." He then smiled at her to show that he was just kidding. "I appreciate the offer, though."

"Hey, since we're discussing dining choices, why don't you bite me?" she countered, smirking. He chuckled from his stretched out position and watched as she struggled to settle into the hammock whilst holding onto the bowl of grapes.

"Need some help?" When she didn't answer him and continued struggling, he rolled his eyes and took the bowl from her. "Here. Just lay down," he instructed, to which she complied. She scooted forward a bit and lay her head down on his chest, sighing with contentment.

Well, she _was_ content until he propped the bowl on top of her head as a joke.

"Oh, ha-ha, Fenton. Move the bowl," she demanded, a hint of playfulness bleeding into her tone. She heard him laugh once again before he moved the bowl to the side and draped his arm around her.

For a seemingly long and silent minute, they rocked together in the hammock, enjoying each other's presence while eating some of the grapes. Then, Danny slid his fingernails into Sam's hair and started massaging her head, something he only did when he wanted to talk to her about something.

She instantly frowned and sat upright, staring at him with penetrating eyes. "All right, what is it?"

He snorted and spread his arms outward, something he also had a habit of doing whenever he was about to lie. "What do you mean?" he asked defensively. "I was just giving you a head massage."

Sam shook her head at him. "Danny, the last time I got a head massage from you, you adopted a dog behind my back that ended up running away." When his lips pursed, she nudged him gently. "Just tell me whatever you have to tell me. I'm sure it can't be that bad."

Slowly, he leaned forward into an upright position, exhaling softly once he did so. "Okay." He gingerly grabbed her hands and looked up at her, his striking blue eyes drilling into her curious ones. "Jazz is going on a business trip."

She waited and waited for him to drop some sort of ball on her, but that seemed to be all that he planned on saying. "That's it?" she asked, her right eyebrow peaking slightly. "What's so bad about that? Do you not want her to go or something?"

He pressed his lips together and averted his gaze for a moment. "Actually, I do, but I don't think you'll want her to go." She was perplexed by that, but before she could question him, he continued. "My parents are on a cruise, so they can't watch Amaya, and since she can't tag along with Jazz..."

He trailed off then, leaving her to figure out the rest of the sentence on her own. Her expression was blank as she stared at him because she didn't fully comprehend what he was telling her, but once she did, her eyes widened. "No way. You're kidding."

His shoulders rose slightly. "I'm not."

"Danny, you know how I feel about kids," she reminded him, pulling her hands out of his grasp. "How come you didn't consult with me about this first?"

"Because I knew you were going to react like this, and she's not just some kid, Sam. She's my niece." He clasped his hands together and tapped his fingertips to his lips. "She's your niece, too, even if it's by marriage."

Sam didn't want to argue with him because she knew it would be pointless to do so. Amaya was his favorite— well, _only_ niece, so if Jazz needed him to babysit her for however long, then he was going to drop whatever he was doing and jump right on that.

Because Sam knew that, she sighed in defeat and shuffled a hand through her hair. "How long is Jazz going to be gone?" she inquired.

Danny paused for a moment before shrugging. "How should I know? I've never been on a business trip. It could be weeks, months, I don't know." Upon seeing her expression shift to that of horror, he rolled his eyes. "You don't have to babysit her, then. I'll just do it since you clearly don't respect my sister or her child."

That struck a chord of guilt within her, so when he started to scramble out of the hammock, she firmly gripped his arm to stop him. "Wait, Danny." He stopped moving, but his gaze drifted away from her. "Of course I love and respect Jazz and her child. They're my family. I'm just really not good with kids and you know that."

"But you won't even give her a chance. You rejected the idea of babysitting her before I even finished bringing up the subject."

She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose, sighing in mild annoyance. "Okay, okay. Let's not argue about this. Let's just backpedal a little." She looked up at him again and took his hands in hers. "So, Jazz is going on a business trip and nobody else can watch Amaya, correct?"

Danny nodded. "My parents are on a cruise, so obviously I'm the next best choice. She'll be staying here until Jazz gets back," he informed her. "It's official, so I want you to at least try with her. I know you aren't particularly fond of children, but Amaya's our family. Plus, she's a sweet girl."

"Is she?" Sam asked, though she wouldn't be surprised if that was true. Jazz was always a mature and nice person, so Sam somewhat expected that her daughter had been raised like that, too.

"Yes, she is." Danny gingerly squeezed her hand. "Give her a chance first before you turn her away."

Jazz had done a lot for her in the past and they were pretty good friends, so it wasn't like she had any other choice but to agree. Plus, she at least wanted to see how things were going to play out. "Okay," she gave in, "let's do it."

"Really?" Danny seemed both surprised and taken aback. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah," she confirmed. "How bad could it be?"

* * *

Sam exhaled softly and moved her free hand to her hip. A broom was occupying her other hand because she had just finished cleaning her house from top to bottom.

Jazz was going to be popping up in a few minutes to drop off Amaya, so she wanted the house to be in tip-top shape before that happened. Danny was downstairs, straightening up the living room a bit more whilst keeping an eye out for them.

She was just in the middle of fixing up their bed when she heard him shout, "They're here!" to her. She froze for a moment before quickly adjusting the sheets on the bed and then striding towards the front door. She was a little nervous and reluctant, but she was ready.

Once she reached the front door, the first person who caught her eye was Amaya. The girl looked exactly like her mother: same facial features, same eye color, and same hair color. She wore a cute little sundress along with a headband to match. Overall, she was a spitting image of Jazz.

The only trait of her mother's that she didn't seem to possess was the outgoing one. As soon as she spotted Sam, she ducked behind Jazz, occasionally peeking past her legs to stare at her. Danny noticed this and chuckled, resting his arm on Amaya's back.

"Don't be shy, Amaya. You already know aunt Sam, right?" he asked her. She didn't say anything and just continued staring at Sam, prompting Jazz to intervene.

"Of course she does!" She knelt down in front of Amaya and playfully ruffled her hair. "Aunt Sam is the best aunt ever, and you're going to have so much fun with her and uncle Danny, aren't you?"

Just like before, Amaya was mute. Jazz's smile faltered and she simply patted her daughter's shoulder before standing up straight again. After that, though, that's when the little girl decided to speak up. "Mommy, I want to color."

A bright smile graced Jazz's features once again and she motioned towards Sam. "Well, your aunt can take you upstairs to color while me and uncle Danny go get your bags from the car! Wouldn't you like that, Sam?"

"Not really," Sam automatically replied, but once she noticed the glare that Danny was flashing her, she instantly backpedaled. "I'm totally kidding. I'd love to do that." She then forced a smile onto her face. "Come on, Amaya."

"No!" Amaya snapped, crossing her arms defiantly and turning towards Jazz. "I don't like her, mommy. I want to go with uncle Danny!"

Sam shrugged and glanced over at Danny. "Hey, at least I tried." She wasn't about to compete with him for a child's attention, so if he was who she wanted to hang around, then what was, was.

Jazz groaned with exasperation and slid her slender fingers through her hair. "Fine, fine. Your aunt will come with me outside instead while you and your uncle go upstairs to color," she negotiated. Amaya seemed pleased with this, as she grinned and nodded vigorously.

Once they left, Jazz swiveled around to face Sam with an apologetic look etched on her face. "I am so sorry about that," she apologized. "I promise she isn't usually like that. It'll just take her awhile to get used to you, and—"

"It's fine, Jazz," Sam interjected, smiling gently in hopes of reassuring the woman. "Don't worry about it. I may not understand kids, but I totally get that."

Jazz's features brightened and she sighed in relief. "Okay, good. So, let me run a few things by you before I leave." She spun over her shoulder and made a beeline for the front door with Sam briskly following behind to catch up. "Are you going to be able to keep up?"

Sam's lower lip puffed outward and she shrugged, shifting to the side to avoid stepping on a rock. "Um, sure? Go right ahead."

Jazz stuck her hand into her back pocket and fished out a folded sheet of paper. She unfolded it and squinted at it, preparing to read what was written on it. "Okay, so, dinner is usually at seven o'clock, bath time is at seven-thirty, and bedtime is at eight. She—"

"What if she doesn't want to go to bed?" Sam inquired, throwing open the trunk of the car once they reached it. Jazz was caught off guard by the interruption, but she quickly recovered and dismissively flicked her hand through the air.

"She will. She knows the routine, but if she's being defiant with it, then Danny already knows what to do," she answered. "As I was saying, for activities, she pretty much likes to do anything, but the main things are coloring and playing with her toys. Do _not_ let her sit in front of the television for too long. Trust me, she'll try to persuade you."

Sam grabbed the first two bags she saw and slung them over her shoulders. "All right. I understand."

Jazz continued to drone on about the rules and expectations while they finished up their task, but Sam tuned her out about halfway through. She figured that she should at least put in some effort with Amaya since she was now roped into babysitting her for however long.

But what if she couldn't even do a decent job at it?


	2. Super Nannies

**Chapter Two**

After Amaya's bags were moved from the trunk of Jazz's car to the inside of Danny and Sam's house, Jazz was ready to say her goodbyes. Sam led her up the staircase and into the guest bedroom, where Amaya and Danny were both situated.

Upon seeing her mother, Amaya dropped her red crayon and scrambled to her feet. Jazz smiled wistfully and knelt down, greeting her child with a tender hug once she came running to her. "See you later, baby. Be good for your aunt and uncle, okay?"

"Yes, mommy," the young girl responded. Sam couldn't help but smile at the little moment the two of them were having. She thought it was pretty cute, though she wouldn't ever admit that out loud.

Jazz brushed some lint off of Amaya's sleeve, retaining her sad smile. "Give mommy a kiss before she leaves," she said, slightly craning her head to the side. Amaya obediently leaned forward and pecked her on the cheek. "Thank you. I love you."

"I love you too, mama." Amaya pulled away from her after that and eagerly rushed back over to her coloring book. Danny, who had been sitting beside her, rose to his feet and walked over to Jazz. He signaled to her that he was going to escort her outside, so she nodded and waved goodbye to Amaya and Sam.

The idea of being alone with Amaya made Sam feel a bit awkward all of a sudden, so she cast a desperate glance over at Danny. He studied her for a few seconds before smirking and leaving the room with Jazz anyway.

Oh, she was going to kill him for that later.

Amaya was so engrossed in her coloring book that she didn't seem to notice that Jazz and Danny had slipped out of the room. Sam, not wanting to just stand there but also not wanting to leave, sank down to her knees and watched Amaya sweep her red crayon across the coloring sheet.

"You know, most people color between the lines and not outside of them," Sam advised after noticing that Amaya was scribbling way past the lines. She was ignored, however, as the young girl simply kept coloring like that anyway. "Uh, so, how old are you? Six? Seven?"

She already knew how old Amaya was, but she was just trying to wiggle a response out of her. "How old are you? Forty? Forty-one?" was the retort she received instead of an actual answer. She flinched, completely taken aback by that.

"Whoa, there, little lady." She forced another smile onto her face and tilted her head to the side. "Let's dial that guess down by about a decade." Once again, Amaya disregarded her and resumed coloring, prompting her to frown. So far, her only opinion of this girl was that she was hard to crack.

Danny poked his head into the room about five minutes later with the intention of checking up on them. "My two favorite people. How's it going in here?" he asked, his bright blue eyes resting upon Sam, who had been standing in the corner and observing Amaya.

"Everything's going fine," she answered as she walked up to him, her gaze remaining trained on the young girl. "Apparently I'm in my forties." She didn't hear a response from him, so she looked over in his direction to catch him raising an eyebrow at her. "Never mind."

He stared at her for a few more seconds and then nodded. "So," he started, lowering his voice to a whisper, "we have it pretty easy with her since it's summer. No school, no problems."

She frowned at him. "That's not really easier. Her going to school would mean that she'd be gone all day. Her being off for summer break means that we have her to ourselves all day everyday."

"Look, Jazz told me that we just need to keep her occupied at all times. As soon as she gets bored, we have to transition into the next activity," he informed her. "Piece of cake, right?"

"I mean, sure, but we are not super nannies, Danny," she whispered back, mildly irritated.

"Well, we are today." He glanced down at his wristwatch with a frustrated sigh. "Looks like the next activity is lunch. It's almost noon, so I'll just fix her something quick to—" He paused, and a second later, a blue wisp trickled from his mouth. He groaned softly and murmured, "Okay, scratch that. Can you take care of lunch?"

Sam blinked twice. "Lunch?"

"Yeah. Lunch," Danny repeated, an unsaid "duh" lacing his tone. He quickly glanced over at Amaya before motioning towards the door with his head, indicating that he wanted to speak to her outside the room. She caught the hint and walked out the door without a word, waiting for him to follow her. Once they were in the hallway, he continued talking. "Fixing lunch for her is the easiest thing in the world."

"Really? How?"

"I don't know. Jazz is strict about her only eating healthy food, so just make her whatever crap it is that you eat." Sam scoffed offensively, but he merely leaned over and pecked her on the lips. "Kidding. Anyway, I'll be right back." Two bright rings of light formed around his waist and raked up and down his body, transforming him into Danny Phantom. He flew up and phased through the roof, leaving Amaya and Sam alone.

Again.

"Preparing lunch for a seven-year-old. Can't be too bad, right?" Sam asked herself quietly. She then inhaled deeply and pushed open the door to the guest bedroom, greeting Amaya with a small smile. "Hey, kid. Ready for lunch?"

She expected the girl to blatantly ignore her once again, but surprisingly, she didn't this time. "Lunch!" She got up and bolted out of the room, ditching her crayons and her coloring book. Sam remained rooted to that spot for half a minute before following after Amaya, descending the steps and making a beeline for the kitchen.

For lunch, she fixed pita bread and hummus with a side of sliced apples. It wasn't for her, though; she wasn't hungry, and there was no way that Danny was going to eat that, so Amaya was the only remaining candidate. She, however, didn't appear to want it either because she grimaced upon seeing it. "I don't want apples and bread," she whined, turning her nose away from the plate.

Sam was already used to that response. She _did_ grow up with Danny and Tucker, after all. "Why not? An apple a day keeps the doctor away, you know." Amaya didn't budge, so she pointed to the pita bread. "That actually tastes delicious. Try it with the hummus. I promise you won't be disappointed."

"What's hummus?" Amaya inquired, glaring at her lunch with disgust.

"Well, it's a spread that originated from the Middle East. It contains chickpeas, sesame seeds, gar—"

"I'm allergic to everything you just said." Amaya cut her off so hastily that she almost believed her for a minute, but then she remembered that she was talking to a little girl.

They often lied when they didn't want to eat something.

"Oh, yeah?" Like a shark, she slowly encircled Amaya's chair, studying her with penetrating eyes. "What did I just say, then?"

That stumped her, as her face scrunched up in deep thought. Sam smirked with satisfaction and crossed her arms, but that feeling quickly faded once she heard Danny ask her, "Uh, Sam, may I have a word with you in the living room?"

She briefly hesitated, glancing back-and-forth between him and Amaya. Then, with a sharp roll of her eyes, she whirled over her shoulder and marched towards the living room. "What did I do wrong? I made her lunch."

"You did. Thank you for that, but please remember that you're in a kitchen, not an interrogation room. You don't have to circle her like that."

"Well, she was lying to me. I think my actions were justified."

Danny snorted at her. "Yeah, okay. Here. Let me show you what you could've done instead of that." He strode back into the kitchen with a determined expression plastered on his face. Of course he was about to upstage her; she knew that already.

"Uncle Danny!" Amaya exclaimed, her face brightening instantly. "Help me! She's forcing me to eat this nasty food."

Sam inwardly rolled her eyes, but she leaned against the door frame of the kitchen and closely watched the pair's interaction. Danny's lips thinned as he approached the table that Amaya was sitting at. "First off, _she _is your aunt Sam, okay?" Amaya frowned, but nodded respectfully at him. "Secondly, do you like piggy back rides?"

That question baffled her. "Yeah. Why?"

He didn't answer her, scooping her up from her seat and positioning her on his shoulders instead. She squealed and wrapped her arms around his neck, giggling as he moved briskly throughout the kitchen with her. Sam cracked a faint smile at the sight, though she still didn't understand how that was going to make Amaya eat her lunch.

He set her back down on her chair about half a minute later, finally choosing to answer her. "Well, you have to be strong to give piggy back rides! This meal right here is exactly what made me so strong," he told her, motioning towards her lunch. "Please try it. Trust me, you'll like it."

She made a face at first, but then she broke out into a grin. She tried the hummus and the pita bread combination, and judging by the way she kept eating it, Sam knew she liked it. She felt Danny casting a smug look her way, so she rolled her eyes and said, "Okay, hot-shot. You got that."

* * *

Dinner time had rolled around before anyone knew it. While Danny kept Amaya company in the living room by watching her favorite television show with her, Sam busied herself in the kitchen. She was conflicted; she wasn't sure what she wanted to prepare for dinner. There were so many options for her to choose from, but she ultimately decided to make rice and carrots.

She absolutely refused to cook any meat with it, so if that's what Danny wanted, then he was going to have to get his butt into the kitchen and whip that up himself. She was mainly cooking dinner for Amaya anyway; she wasn't that hungry.

"Dinner's ready!" she announced loudly, hoping she wouldn't have to repeat herself. She had already fixed their plates and placed them on the table. All that was left was for them to come and eat, which they did about twenty seconds later. As soon as Danny saw what they were having, he glanced up at her, ready to complain, but her lethal glare stopped him abruptly.

"Looks delicious, Sam," he remarked, his gaze swiveling towards Amaya for a second opinion. "Right, Amaya?"

The child simply shrugged, though it was evident to Sam that she didn't like the meal. Of course, she wasn't about to admit that in front of her uncle. "Can I have ice cream after dinner?" she asked, seemingly in general.

"Yes."

"No."

The two answers were said simultaneously, with Sam's answer being no, of course. Danny had said yes, so once he heard her response, he flashed her a look. She returned the look more defiantly, crossing her arms to show him that she wasn't budging on the matter. "You said strictly healthy meals," she reminded him in a reduced tone of voice.

"A little ice cream isn't going to hurt anyone." He kept his voice low as well so that Amaya wouldn't overhear them, which proved to be successful because she obliviously ate her dinner. "Two scoops max. You really don't want to deal with a whole temper tantrum, do you?"

Sam frowned. "No, no I do not." She sighed heavily and raked her slim fingers through her hair. "Fine. Ice cream after dinner sounds fine."

Amaya heard that, however, and eagerly clapped her hands together. "Yay! Ice cream!" she exclaimed. Sam nodded and took a seat at the table along with Danny, sitting across from them. She wanted to eat in silence, but obviously that wasn't going to be possible with a seven-year-old girl at the table. "Aunt Sam, how come you aren't as fun as uncle Danny is?"

Danny nearly choked on his rice, but Sam wasn't too surprised by the question and maintained her calm demeanor. "Because I'm not really a fun person, but there's nothing wrong with that. Sometimes it's good to have a little balance," she responded. "I'm sure there will be a situation where my personality will come in clutch."

"Aunt Sam is plenty of fun," Danny interceded, winking at her to let her know that he had her back. She rolled her eyes a bit, but smiled at him. "Trust me, Amaya. You'll realize that in a few days."

Amaya shook her head. "Yeah, right." She then resumed eating, missing the deep frown that Sam was now sporting.

* * *

At eight o'clock sharp, Sam realized that it was time for Amaya to go to bed. Like a statue, the girl was sitting in front of the television, completely focused on whatever series Danny had let her watch before he fell asleep. He was knocked out beside her on the couch, so she knew that she was going to have to be the one that sent Amaya to bed. Instantly, she knew that wasn't going to go well at all, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to go through with it.

"All right, kiddo. Time for bed." She rose up from the couch and stretched out her arms, but when she saw that Amaya wasn't budging, she lowered her arms and tried again. "Amaya, did you hear me? I said it's time for bed."

Amaya groaned, her face contorting in annoyance. "I heard you." Her expression then went blank, and once again, she was engrossed in her television show. That peeved Sam, but she tried her best not to showcase that feeling.

"Then how come you're not moving?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. Silence. "Okay. I'm not going to do this with you." She snatched the remote from the arm of the couch and shut off the television, causing Amaya to burst out at her like a tornado. She began wailing, throwing herself to the floor while kicking and having a fit.

That made Danny jolt awake, eyes darting around the room in bewilderment. His gaze swung towards Sam before resting on Amaya, and instantly, he understood what was going on. "It's okay, Sam. I'll handle this." He stood up and advanced towards the crying child, so Sam took that as her cue and left the room.

She went upstairs to their shared bedroom and shut the door, hoping that would tune out the wailing from downstairs. It did a little bit, so she wearily approached the bed and climbed on top of it. She started to rethink her whole agreement to babysitting because there was no way she could put up with that any longer. Yes, that was her niece and all, but she didn't think she was up for the job like Danny was.

About twenty minutes later, said boy slipped into the bedroom, looking both apologetic and sympathetic. "You okay?" was the first question he asked her. She nodded meekly, but she probably wasn't too convincing with it because he sighed and shuffled over to her. "I put her to bed."

"I don't think I can do it." Her voice was soft and quiet, but mostly because she was exhausted. "I really did try with her, but she doesn't like me. What can I do? I can't and won't force her to interact with me in a more positive manner."

Danny exhaled huskily and climbed onto the bed, occupying the empty space beside her. "She's a kid, Sam. She just needs to warm up to you first. You're not doing anything wrong," he assured her, his tired blue eyes drilling into hers. "I promise. You'll see. Tomorrow will be a much better day."

She chuckled once and rolled her head to the right. "Yeah, right. We'll see."


	3. An Old Flame

**Chapter Three**

Sam rolled over in bed the following morning, trying to find a comfortable position so that she could fall back asleep. She eventually found one and settled into it, closing her eyes once again. She was just starting to fall asleep when she heard the bedroom door being opened by Danny, she assumed. Afraid that he was going to make her do something Amaya-related, she pretended to be asleep.

After attempting to deal with her niece all day yesterday, she was drained. Children were his thing; not hers. He was the fun uncle while she was the boring, strict aunt, so she figured that there was no point in continuing to force herself somewhere she wasn't wanted.

When he entered the room, it sounded like he was on the phone with someone because he kept grunting in annoyance. She didn't know who he was speaking to until he defensively said, "Okay, Jazz, chill. I didn't know that." He became quiet again, so she tried to make out what Jazz was saying, but to no avail. "Well, she's still asleep. I'll tell her that when she wakes up."

At some point, their conversation ended, leaving Sam to wonder what they had been discussing. She decided to just go back to sleep, but then she felt his hand on her shoulder, shaking her awake. "It's time to get up, Sam." She groaned, guessing that their conversation had been about Amaya.

"Why?" she demanded, though it came off weak because of how groggy she sounded. She cracked her eyelids open and stared right at him, as he was face-to-face with her. She couldn't help but cast a glance over at the clock on her nightstand, and once she saw what time it was, she glared at him. "It's eight in the morning. The house better be on fire or something."

"No, but my ears are on fire." He plopped down beside her on the bed, causing it to roughly shift. "I just got off the phone with Jazz and she lectured me about us letting Amaya watch TV without going through the 'screen time rules' with her first."

Sam's eyebrows drew together. "Screen time rules?" she repeated. "What is that? She never mentioned that to me."

Danny leaned forward and grabbed one of his shoes, slipping it onto his foot. "It's like a checklist. She has to take a bath, get dressed, eat breakfast, brush her teeth, make her bed, read for twenty minutes, color or draw for twenty minutes, play outside for thirty minutes, and then play with Legos for twenty minutes before she can watch TV," he explained to her. She nearly flinched in shock.

"Jeez! All that just to watch TV for like an hour?" She sat upright in bed, peeling her blankets from her body before standing up. "Then again, this is Jazz we're talking about, so I kind of understand that absurd schedule."

"Exactly." He finished tying his shoe and then started to work on the other foot. "So, since Amaya actually likes that schedule, I was wondering if you wanted to go through it with me. You know, just so you can get the hang of it."

It actually sounded interesting, so Sam agreed. "Sure. Let me get ready first. Is she still asleep?"

"Yeah. I'll go get her up and get her started on the bath." Danny stood up from the bed and walked towards the door, but before he left, he turned back towards her. "Hey, are you going to be okay today?"

Such a sweetheart that man was. "I am." She smiled reassuringly, which must've been convincing enough for him because he returned the smile and exited the room.

She must've taken awhile to shower and get ready for the day because when she finally arrived downstairs, Amaya was both dressed and finished with her breakfast. To be fair, Danny had only fixed her some cereal, so that's probably why she was already moving onto the next step of the checklist.

"Wow. You move fast, Danny boy," Sam remarked, looking pleased. "What was the next step again?"

His eyes slid to the top of their sockets and he hummed in thought. "She has to brush her teeth and then make up her bed." He took Amaya's bowl and stuck it in the sink before returning to her. "All right, Amaya. Do you remember the next step?"

She gave a gleeful nod of her head. "I have to brush my teeth!" She got up out of her seat and bolted towards the staircase, heading to her room.

"Remember to use your walking feet in the house!" Danny reminded her in a shout, briskly tailing after her with Sam not too far behind him. When they caught up with her, she was already in the bathroom, struggling to reach her toothbrush that was sitting in a cup on the counter.

"Here." Sam grabbed the pink toothbrush from the cup and handed it to Amaya, who thanked her with a small smile. "Don't forget to make up your bed once you're done in here, okay?"

"Okay," Amaya responded, nodding her head understandably. Danny uncapped the toothpaste tube and began helping her brush her teeth, but not before flashing a thumbs up at Sam.

After that was done, Amaya got started on making up her bed. She wanted to do it all by herself, so Danny and Sam merely stood to the side and watched her perform that task. Her finished result wasn't that good: the pillows were lopsided and the blanket had been sloppily draped across the bed, but neither of them dared to point that out to her.

"Great job, kid," Sam lied. She didn't really care about the bed; she was just happy that they were quickly moving down the checklist. "Now it's time to read for forty minutes."

"Twenty minutes," Danny corrected.

"Same difference."

Amaya huffed and crossed her arms, suddenly becoming upset. "I don't want to read. I want to go outside."

"And do what? Stare at the grass? We don't have a playground set back there," Sam retorted. She then remembered that she was speaking to a little girl, so she backpedaled quickly. "But, if you read for just ten minutes, your uncle Danny and I will take you to the playground for _thirty_ minutes. How does that sound?"

Amaya grinned and eagerly jetted off towards the other side of the bed, where there was a bin full of books sitting on the floor. While she fingered through them, trying to find one that she liked, Danny approached Sam with a huge smile. "See? I knew you could do it. That was some smart negotiation."

She felt proud, but she couldn't express that feeling in anything other than a smile. "Why, thank you. I hope Jazz won't mind that I cut the reading time in half."

"What she doesn't know can't hurt her." He curled his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to him, kissing her gently on the top of her head. His eyes then slid onto Amaya, who had chosen a book that she liked and was now brandishing it in the air.

"Read this to me, uncle Danny!" She sat crisscrossed on the floor, still waving the book around. He glanced over at Sam for confirmation, and when she shrugged, he gave in.

"Okay, okay." He retracted his arm from around her and strode over to Amaya, sitting right beside her. She handed him the book, sporting the goofiest smile that Sam had ever seen before. "So, this story is called..."

* * *

After the reading activity was up, all three of them piled into Danny's car, ready to head over to the local park. Sam had a love-hate relationship with Danny's driving because he often drove too fast, but she also thought his road raging remarks were hilarious. Obviously, though, none of that was going to happen because Amaya was in the car now.

Or so she thought.

As he propelled his vehicle down the street, another driver cut him off. Though he appeared irritated after that, he said nothing and continued driving. A few seconds after that, however, another driver cut him off, prompting him to honk his horn with a frustrated growl. "What, is my car invisible today?" he asked to nobody in particular.

While Sam snorted, Amaya scratched her head from her place in the back seat. "I don't get it. Why would your car be invisible?"

She genuinely seemed confused about that, so he easily explained his outburst with, "Nothing. It's just a figure of speech."

Sam, remembering that English wasn't his best subject, decided to tease him a little. "Really? Which one?" she asked, smirking. When he visibly stiffened after that, she bit her lip to stifle her laughter.

"I, uh, believe that... um." He continued stammering, even after his eyes flicked up to the rear view mirror at Amaya, who seemed to be waiting for his response. "I'd rather not talk about it, actually." He twisted the steering wheel to the right, turning down the adjacent street while ignoring the laughter coming from both her and Sam.

Soon after that, they arrived at the park, with Danny parking his car a few feet away from the gate. He shut off the engine and turned over his shoulder, looking at Amaya. "All right. You have thirty minutes to burn off as much energy as you can before we leave. Got it?"

Once she nodded and unbuckled her seat belt, he got out of the car and rounded the back of it to get to her side. He opened her door for her before chivalrously doing the same for Sam, who thanked him with a light roll of her eyes. She liked doing simple things like that on her own, but she wasn't about to scold him for it.

As they started sauntering towards the playground, she saw Amaya grab his hand and walk with him. She thought nothing of it until her hand was grabbed as well, which completely took her by surprise. She looked down at the little girl, who was just innocently moving forward with their hands in hers. She then glanced at Danny, who flashed her a quick smile before turning his gaze elsewhere.

Good thing he looked away because if he didn't, he would've caught her smiling, too.

They entered the park through the gate and approached the playground. There were a few children running around and playing with each other while their parents watched them from a distance, so that's what Danny and Sam decided to do as well. They told Amaya to go on ahead, and after she sprinted towards the slide, they took a seat on a nearby bench.

"What was the next activity after this again?" Sam inquired. She honestly didn't remember the order of the activities on the checklist, but she was hoping that it would be something peaceful and stress-free.

"Uh, I think it was coloring or drawing for twenty minutes." Danny craned his head in her direction and cast her a devilishly handsome smirk. "So, is today any easier for you, or are you still having second thoughts about all of this?"

Her shoulders raised. "Today is definitely much better than yesterday. Rocky beginnings make for happy endings, I suppose."

"To be fair, today is still a beginning, but you're getting there, Rookie." He leaned back against the bench and crossed his arms. "You know, Sam, I don't think I've ever thanked you for helping me out with this. I know you aren't too fond of children, so I really appreciate you doing this for me."

That genuinely made her smile. "Ah, please. I'm your wife. I'd do this a thousand times over if it'd make you happy. Only if it was Amaya, though. I can't handle any other kid," she told him, shaking her head. Danny chuckled. "Besides, today is going pretty smooth."

"It is," he agreed. "I can't imagine anything bad happening today."

As soon as he said that, Amaya snatched a toy out of a child's hand and then shoved him away from her. He then started shouting for his mother, who came stomping over. Sam groaned loudly and shot up from the bench along with Danny. "Sometimes I think we just jinx ourselves," she grumbled, rushing over to intervene before the woman had a chance to.

Once she reached Amaya, she gently gripped the girl's shoulders and towed her to the side while Danny confronted the child's mother. "Sorry about that, ma'am. We-"

"Are you that child's father?" the woman demanded, shifting her anger onto him. He looked like he was about to say no, but whatever he was actually about to say never got uttered because she cut him off. "You should be ashamed of yourself!" She then glared over at Sam. "And you must be her mother. You're setting a bad example for her!"

Sam didn't really know what to say because she had never gotten yelled at by a child's mother before. "Uh," she drawled, taking the toy away from Amaya and awkwardly handing it back to the woman. "Sorry?"

"Yeah. You'd better be." She proceeded to hand, or rather _force_ the toy back into her son's hand before anchoring him out of the playground. For several seconds after that, Danny and Sam remained standing there, both of them reflecting on what just happened.

"Did we just get yelled at for being bad parents to our niece?" she asked, breaking the silence. His eyes flickered onto her, and once that happened, they both broke out into a laughing fit.

Amaya, now perplexed, stared at them with curious eyes. "What's funny?"

Danny gave a dismissive shake of his head, though he was still chuckling. "Nothing, nothing. We'll talk about this later, but for now, go finish playing," he replied. She didn't need to be told twice, as she immediately spun around and darted over to the swing set.

She played for about twenty-five minutes before Sam announced to Danny, "I have to use the bathroom." There was one right behind the bench they were sitting on, so she excused herself and made a beeline for it.

She didn't take too long in there because she knew Amaya's outdoor time was wrapping up, so she quickly relieved herself and washed her hands afterwards. As soon as she opened the bathroom door and stepped out, she spotted a familiar face standing next to Danny.

Valerie Gray.

Sure, she could've just played it cool by strolling over there and greeting her former nemesis, but she didn't. Instead, she crept a bit closer to them and ducked behind a trash can so that she could eavesdrop on their conversation. She normally wouldn't have done that, but they looked like they were discussing something interesting.

"So, what brings you to the park?" Valerie asked him, smiling a little too wide for Sam's liking. "You aren't here to spy on kids, are you?"

He rolled his eyes at her, but started to smile, too. "No. Actually, I'm here with a kid." His eyes were fixed on Amaya, but obviously she didn't know that, so she followed his gaze. When she noticed the little girl he was staring at, she moved a hand to her chest and gasped.

"You have a daughter now? Wow. She's adorable, but she looks nothing like Manson." She paused, turning to him with an arched eyebrow. "You _are_ still with her, right?"

He raised his hand, flashing his wedding ring at her. "Yeah. Forever." That made Sam smile to herself, but instead of quitting her eavesdropping session, she continued. "That's not our daughter, though. That's our niece. We don't have any children yet."

"Yet?" Valerie pressed, causing Sam's smile to deflate. "Why not? Aren't you guys pushing thirty now?"

"I mean, we're twenty-eight," Danny corrected, looking at her funny. "And I actually want a child, but Sam doesn't like children."

A curious expression crossed her face at that moment. "And you still married her? You know just as well as I do that Manson's stubborn. There's no way she's going to change her mind about that. You should've found someone with the same want as you instead of clinging to your polar opposite."

That stung; Sam was so tempted to storm over there and chew her out, but she calmed herself enough to finish listening to the conversation. "Are you married, Val? Do you have children of your own?" Danny asked, sounding more annoyed than anything.

Valerie smiled almost apologetically. "I didn't mean to offend you. I was just giving you some friendly advice."

To Sam's surprise, he didn't dismiss her or get up and walk away. Instead, he laughed. "No, no. I get that. Thank you, though." He stood up from the bench and called out to Amaya. As she came running over, he turned back to Valerie and said, "Well, it was nice running into you, Val, but we have to go now."

Sam took that as her cue and discreetly got up from her hiding spot. She was pretty angry about what she overheard, but she concealed it and made her way over to them. Upon making eye contact with Valerie, she forced a smile onto her face. "Hey, Valerie. Long time no see."

Valerie glanced over at Danny before deciding to return the smile, though much more faintly. "Manson. How are you?" The question sounded more automatic than sincere, so Sam didn't bother answering. Amaya skipped up to them just then, but before Valerie could even introduce herself, Sam gingerly grabbed her hand and marched in the direction of Danny's car.

"Who was that lady?" Amaya questioned, not at all curious as to why her aunt was speeding away from Danny.

"Nobody important, kid. Nobody important."


	4. Trouble in Paradise

**Chapter Four**

Amaya sat happily on her bed, coloring a picture of a baby turtle inside of her coloring book. On either side of her sat Danny and Sam, but only one of them was focused on the girl and her task. The other one was spaced out, still upset about what had happened in the park.

Sam.

_"And you still married her? You know just as well as I do that Manson's stubborn. There's no way she's going to change her mind about that. You should've found someone with the same want as you instead of clinging to your polar opposite."_

Though that part of Danny and Valerie's conversation peeved her, it didn't nearly bother her as much as his response did, which was to brush off the comment with a laugh. He even thanked Valerie after what she said, which probably hurt Sam the most.

"Why did you color your turtle pink?" she heard him ask Amaya, which dragged her back to reality. Her gaze strayed over to the picture in question, which was, in fact, colored pink.

Amaya giggled. "Because she's a girl." She still had a habit of coloring way past the lines, but that no longer bothered Sam because she had something, or someone else to be irritated with now. "How long do I have left to color again?"

"Uh." Danny pursed his lips thoughtfully. "I'd say you have about five more minutes. You've been coloring for awhile. Right, Sam?"

At the mention of her name, her lashes swept upward and she blinked at him. "Yeah. Probably." She looked away from him, but she could practically feel his eyes burning a hole into the side of her face.

Because Amaya was sitting between them, he couldn't whisper to her the way he wanted to. "Sam," he called, trying to get her to look at him again so that he could signal for her to meet him outside of the room.

She disregarded him and swept her attention over to Amaya, who was still innocently scribbling her turtle. "Hey, I know it's a little early, but it's still almost noon. You hungry?" The young girl nodded her head. "All right. I'll go fix you some lunch."

She got up from the bed and flounced out of the room, leaving the door wide open instead of slamming it. She was hoping that Danny wouldn't come chasing after her, but sure enough, he did. Exactly ten seconds later, she heard him rushing down the stairs after her.

"Whoa, whoa. Slow down, Sam." He caught up to her in the kitchen and hooked his fingers around her waist, stopping her from moving any further. With an exaggerated sigh, she swiveled around to him, stepping back to rid her waist of his hand. "What did I do?" he asked.

"It's more of what you didn't do. Excuse me." She bypassed him, still attempting to fix lunch despite her being upset with him.

He scoffed and bowed his head, muttering something underneath his breath. Then, he moved his hand over hers, holding it firmly. "Stop. What didn't I do?"

"You didn't jump on Valerie for saying all that stuff about me." She pulled her hand away from him, still retaining her glare. "She called me out back there, but all you did was laugh and thank her."

The muscles in his face tightened. "You were _eavesdropping _on us?"

"It's not eavesdropping if you both were talking so loudly around me," she defended, her brows bumping together in a more lethal scowl. "It's almost like you guys _wanted _me to hear that. Honestly, Danny, she doesn't need to know our business."

"All I told her was that you didn't want children. Everyone in Amity Park knew that already!"

"If everyone already knew that, then why did you have to tell Valerie about it?" she asked, silencing him immediately. "Exactly. A simple, 'I'd rather not talk about that subject' would've sufficed instead of laughing along to her calling me stubborn."

"I wasn't laughing. Well, I was, but it was more of an awkward laugh. I didn't really know how to react to what she was saying. It all-"

"You didn't know how to react?" she repeated, cutting him off before he could finish. She no longer sounded angry; just hurt. "She questioned our marriage, yet you didn't know what to say? Is it... is it because you _agree _with her?"

Danny sighed sharply. "No, Sam." He angrily forked his fingers through his hair. "Our marriage is the best thing that's ever happened to me. Why would I _ever_ agree with her?"

"Because you want a child and I don't." She stopped and turned around to face him, her sad Amethyst eyes caressing his. "Seriously, Danny. Think about it. How are we going to make this marriage work? I mean, you love the thought of children."

"I do love the thought of children, but I love you more," he responded, his tone of voice softening. She looked away, so he raised his hand to her shoulder in a comforting manner. "Sam, I need for us to not fall apart right now. Please."

At that moment, Amaya came stomping down the steps, forcing them to stop their argument. "Aunt Sam, is lunch almost ready? I'm really hungry."

The corners of Sam's lips curved into a lackluster smile. "Yeah, sweetie. Sorry about that." As much as she wanted to continue her conversation with Danny, Amaya was the top priority in that moment because she was the child. "You can wait at the table while I fix it for you."

The young girl skipped towards the table, ready to eat. Before Sam started on lunch, she told Danny, "We'll continue this conversation later." He frowned, but nodded and stalked out of the kitchen. She knew he was only going to go cool off, so she didn't chase after him.

Lunch was simple: peanut butter on wheat bread with a glass of apple juice on the side. She wasn't in the mood to stand there and make something time-consuming, so a basic lunch choice it was.

While she toasted the bread, Amaya asked her, "Is Uncle Danny in the dog house?"

She wasn't expecting that question, but she awkwardly cleared her throat and answered it anyway. "Ah, no. What makes you say that?" She glared at the toaster, hoping the bread would pop up as soon as possible so that she would be able to make the sandwich and then leave.

"Because I heard you yelling at him. Whenever mommy would yell at daddy, he'd tell me that he was in the dog house," Amaya replied. "What were you guys arguing about?"

There was no way that Sam was going to vent to a seven-year-old girl, so she dismissed the subject. "I wasn't yelling and no one was arguing. Don't worry about it, Amaya." The toast popped up then, so she snatched it out of the toaster and started to fix the sandwich.

Amaya was relentless, however. "Where did uncle Danny go, then?"

"To get something from upstairs," Sam answered hastily. She started looking around, hoping that he'd show up and rescue her from all of the questions. That wasn't going to happen, obviously, so she sighed for the millionth time that day.

Fortunately, Amaya let the subject die. "What's the next activity?"

Sam hummed and paused her task. "Legos? I could be wrong, but whatever you do next is the final activity. You can watch TV afterwards," she informed her niece, who then started to cheer.

* * *

Sam's eyelashes faintly batted against her eyelids as she blinked open her eyes. She didn't remember falling asleep; the last thing she remembered was sitting in Amaya's room with her, watching her build a house out of Legos.

Strangely, Amaya was no longer in the room with her. That realization abruptly made her sit upright, all remaining traces of sleep shedding from her brain. "Amaya?" She got up from the bed and swept out of the room, checking each room upstairs before going downstairs.

The kitchen was clear, so she jogged into the living room area to check for either Danny or Amaya. She figured that they were both asleep somewhere, but as soon as she stepped into the living room, she felt something sharp poke the bottom of her foot.

She gasped out in both pain and surprise, automatically grabbing her affected foot. Upon looking down at the floor, she found the source: a Lego piece. She glared at it, but that expression quickly faded once she heard familiar giggling.

While rubbing the bottom of her foot, she squinted at the couch, where she had heard the sound coming from. "Amaya, I know you're back there." She had somewhat of a sing-song tone to her voice, which only made Amaya giggle even more.

The child exposed her hiding spot, crawling from behind the couch with a mischievous grin gracing her features. She continued giggling, but instead of becoming upset, Sam smirked and crept towards her.

"Oh, you think that's funny, huh?" She playfully started tickling Amaya, causing her giggles to transition into full-on boisterous laughter. In that fun little moment between them, Sam had forgotten all about the stinging sensation in her foot.

She didn't cease tickling her niece until she heard the clearing of a throat. Unbeknownst to her, Danny had slipped into the room while she was busy playing with Amaya. "Having fun, ladies?" He walked forward, avoiding the very same Lego piece that she herself had stepped on.

"Amaya was just pulling a little disappearing scare act on me, guest starring that evil little Lego on the floor there," she replied, winking. "Tagged me right in the foot."

"I was just being funny." Amaya scooped up all of her Legos and dumped them into the bin. "You fell asleep upstairs, so I went downstairs to give you some room. I thought the Lego thing would make you laugh."

Sam inwardly snorted, failing to understand how inflicting pain on someone was also supposed to make them laugh. She guessed that it was simply child logic, so she didn't push the matter. "Well, it did make me laugh. Thank you for that, Amaya. Such a thoughtful little girl you are."

Amaya smiled timidly and averted her gaze onto Danny. "Can I watch TV now?" she asked hopefully. As soon as he told her yes, she bolted over to the TV and flicked it on. He chuckled and reached out for Sam's hand, towing her out of the living room and into the kitchen.

Once he released her, a bunch of questions spewed from her lips. "Where did you disappear to? Why were you gone for so long? Are you just now getting back? How did—"

He silenced her with a finger to her lips and a gentle eye roll. "To answer your questions in order, I was outside talking to Jazz, she talks too much sometimes, and no, I came back while you were asleep. I took Amaya downstairs so she wouldn't disturb you."

She immediately began to feel ashamed about that last part. What babysitter fell asleep on the job? "I— sorry about that. It won't happen again." She stepped to the side with the intention of walking away, but he moved his hand to her shoulder to stop her.

"Earlier, you said that we'd continue our conversation later. I think it's later now." When she sighed, realizing that he was right, he retracted his hand and waited for her to respond.

"Well, you still want a child and I don't. C'mon, Danny. I can't even properly babysit the one child I'm watching over now and she's our niece. Why would I do any better with one of our own?"

"Because he or she would be your own," was his reply. "Believe it or not, you're doing great with Amaya, but obviously she's going to be a handful for you because she's not your child. You're not used to her. You don't know her like Jazz does, but with our _own_ son or daughter? That'd be different."

"Different? How?" Sam scoffed, scowling at him now.

"How? Well, for starters, you'd know them like the back of your hand. You'd know their personality, their strengths, their weaknesses, _everything_. They'd be mini versions of us."

"I don't want a child. Period. You've known that since we were teenagers." She felt her face heating up because she was becoming frustrated. "I can't and won't have a baby just to please you because it wouldn't be fair to them at all."

Danny clenched his jaw and, after making sure Amaya wasn't eavesdropping on them, he reduced the level of his voice to a whisper. "I thought love meant sacrifice. Never have you _ever _once sat down and actually pictured us with a family of our own. You always reject the idea of children before considering it."

"Oh, I've considered it," Sam admitted, becoming defensive. "It made me realize that I'm _still_ not ready for a child. I can't stress that enough. You knew that already! When you married me, you married my life style and my choices."

"And when you married me, you married mine!" Danny exclaimed. Once again, he checked the corner for Amaya. When he saw that the coast was clear, he inhaled sharply. "You not wanting a child is an appearance thing, isn't it? This goes way beyond you not liking them."

That offended her. "I've never once cared about my image and you know that. You can't force me or guilt me into becoming a parent if I don't want to. I said no."

"So you're not even going to reconsider this? This is a permanent choice for you?" he angrily questioned after an exasperated sigh. Sam remained stubborn on the subject.

"No and yes."

"I think that's really selfish of you, Sam."

By then, he was glaring into her eyes so intensely that she almost wilted, but she returned the glare with the same energy. "Then divorce me," she said quietly, the amount of hurt she was feeling at that moment being evident in her tone.

Judging by the way his features softened after she said that, she knew that hurt him. Amaya skipped over to them, oblivious to them being angry with each other. "Uncle Danny, come watch this show with me!"

She grabbed his hand and tugged him towards the living room, but before he left, he flashed one last glare at Sam. Out of all the times they had argued, he had never looked at her like that before. Thankfully, Amaya successfully pulled him into the living room and out of sight.

She only had one thing to mutter to herself after that whole argument. "Great."

* * *

**Author's note: I'm curious for your thoughts. Who do you agree with in this situation: Danny or Sam, and why? Thanks for the reviews, by the way. They're all appreciated.**


	5. End of Discussion

**Chapter Five**

Sam sat alone in the booth of her favorite diner, picking at her food like it had been poisoned. She had to get out of the house to clear her head after her argument with Danny. She didn't want to be around him or speak to him, much less even look at him, so she left.

She had been sitting in that same spot for a few hours now, slowly eating her food while reading a magazine that was lying around the booth. It was now quarter to five, but instead of getting up and heading back home, she continued sitting there.

The bell rang as the entrance door of the diner swung open, which instantly pulled Sam's gaze over. Tucker had entered, and judging by the way he was panting and sweating, he either ran there or just came from the gym.

She knew it wasn't the latter.

"Hey. I got your call," he told her once he reached her booth. She greeted him with a faint smile and pushed her untouched glass of water towards him as he sat down. He thanked her and started to drink it immediately, but she didn't wait for him to finish before speaking.

"Thanks for coming. You're the only other person I can rant to besides Danny." She stabbed her fork through her small salad and swept it around the container, still not interested in eating it. "Honestly, am I wrong for not wanting children?"

Tucker set the glass of water in front of him on the table and shook his head. "Honestly? No. Your body, your choice." He signaled at a waitress, letting her know that he wanted a menu. "Sadly, I can't get in the middle of this. Both of you guys are my best friends."

"I would never ask you to get in the middle of this, Tuck. I'm just really upset." She poked her fork through her salad again, much more aggressively this time. "How does me not wanting a child make me selfish?"

Tucker frowned. "It doesn't. Why? Did he say that to you?" The waitress he signaled for came over and placed a menu down in front of him. "Thank you," he told her, smiling slightly.

Once she walked away, Sam leaned forward and flattened her palm on the table. "Yeah! He said that. I'm not ready for a baby and he's already known that for years." She reached across the table and grabbed the glass of water from him, finishing it up.

He glared at her for a few seconds before picking up his menu and studying it. "Well, nobody's ever truly _ready _to have a kid, but it's best not to have one until you're _certain_ you want one. You're certain that you don't want one, so that's the end of the conversation."

She inspected her fingernails, scoffing. "Try telling that to him."

"Should I get the jalapeño poppers with ranch or the basket of onion rings for an appetizer?" he asked her, ignoring what she had said. When he didn't hear a response, he glanced up to see her raising an eyebrow at him. "Oh, sorry. Where is he now?"

"At home with Amaya," she answered. "We're babysitting her for Jazz while she's out on a business trip."

Tucker propped his elbow on top of the table and flipped through the menu with his other hand. "You actually agreed to that? Wow. Color me surprised. How's that working out for you so far?"

"Well, yesterday absolutely sucked. Screaming children are _not _my forte, so you can imagine how horrified I was when she started having a tantrum about me turning off the TV."

He chuckled, closing the menu. "Why'd you shut off the TV?"

"Because it was bedtime and she refused to go when I told her nicely. No kid is going to run me. If I say it's time for bed, then it's time for bed."

The waitress from before approached their table again, asking Tucker if he was ready to order. "Yes. I'll start off with the basket of onion rings. For my drink, I'll just have water," he informed her. "I'm still indecisive about what meal I want, so feel free to come back later." Sam rolled her eyes.

The kind woman scribbled something down on her notepad before replying with, "Got it. I'll be right back." And after that, she was gone.

"I'll have you know that I fully intend on leaving after I finish eating," Sam said, motioning to her untouched food. "Your meal is going to have me sitting here and waiting forever."

Tucker frowned. "Didn't you tell me on the phone that you've been sitting here for hours? I think you can spare me a few minutes. I mean, unless you _want _to head home to a screaming child and a pissed-off Danny."

Sam considered staying; she honestly would have, too, but then she remembered that Danny was half-ghost and couldn't just take Amaya with him if his ghost sense went off. "I actually have to get going." She fished into her wallet and pulled out four twenty dollar bills, tossing them onto the table. "This should cover my meal and the tip."

She slid out of the booth and strode towards the exit, leaving Tucker there alone. He glanced to the left and then to the right before taking two of the bills, grinning.

* * *

When Sam entered the house later on, the first place she checked for Danny was the kitchen. For some reason, that was the go-to hangout spot for both him and Amaya. Unfortunately, neither of them were in there.

Next, she checked the living room, as that was the last place they were before she left. She figured they were watching TV or doing something in there, but she quickly found out that they weren't in there either. Because of that, she went upstairs to look around.

She checked Amaya's room, somewhat expecting them to be in there, but she was wrong again. The room was unoccupied, and they couldn't have left because Danny's car was still parked outside when she got home.

She pulled out her cell phone and stepped out of the room, ready to call him. She honestly didn't think he'd answer, but after walking into her room and discovering who was in there, the idea of calling him disappeared.

He was passed out on the bed with Amaya curled up beside him. Resting on his chest was an open child's book, so Sam guessed that he had dozed off sometime after reading it to Amaya. Why he chose to read her a story so early in the day was beyond her, but it still made her smile.

She quietly moved over to the bed and grabbed the book from his chest, being careful not to wake either of them up. She closed it and set it on the nightstand before kissing him softly on the forehead. Sure, she was still mad at him, but cute moments like that briefly made her forget about her grudges.

Upon trying to leave the room, she accidentally bumped into the bed, causing it to jolt, which also caused Amaya to wake up. She cursed underneath her breath and turned towards her niece, sporting a sheepish smile.

"Sorry about that. Go back to sleep." She continued to leave, but Amaya stopped her by calling out to her.

"I don't want to go to sleep. I want to stay with you." The young girl got off of the bed and walked up to her aunt, rubbing her eyes tiredly.

"W-With me?" Sam stammered. Amaya nodded, which surprised her because she didn't ever think she'd be a child's favorite person to go to over Danny. "Okay. Let's go downstairs and let your uncle sleep in peace."

Amaya complied, grabbing onto her aunt's hand and following her out of the room. Sam didn't think too much about that and simply allowed the contact to happen, taking Amaya down to the living room with her.

It was still a little too early for dinner, so she had Amaya sit down and watch TV until then. While that happened, she closed her eyes; not to fall asleep, but to rest for a few minutes. However, three minutes into her mini rest session, she felt someone sit beside her on the couch.

She abruptly opened her eyes and looked to her right, catching Amaya staring at the side of her head. "You have pretty hair, aunt Sam. Why do you always keep it in a ponytail?" she asked with big curious eyes.

Sam hadn't been expecting a question that random, so she raised her shoulders in a shrug. "Because it's quick? I don't know." She was no longer a huge fan of wearing her hair down because it had grown out so long that it made her neck feel hot most of the time.

Amaya scooted closer to her and grasped onto her ponytail, sliding her fingers through it. "Can I braid it?"

Normally, Sam would've said no because she had a strict 'no touching' policy in regards to her hair, but she decided against that because she was curious as to how the braid would turn out. That, and an occupied Amaya was much better than an unoccupied one.

"Sure, kid. Knock yourself out," she agreed. After being given the green light, Amaya proceeded to forcefully tug on her hair tie, not at all successful in getting her hair out of the ponytail. "Ow! Hey, if you keep that up, I won't have any hair left for you to braid."

Amaya giggled. "Sorry." She tried to take out the hair tie more gently, but Sam was impatient and did it for her.

"There you go." She slid the tie onto her wrist and shook out her hair. "Remember, be gentle. I saw you violently brushing the hair on your Barbie doll when I popped up at your mother's house a few months ago."

"Because she had tangles in her hair," Amaya explained, searching around for a brush. "Do you have tangles in your hair?"

Sam frowned, and when her niece looked away, she combed her fingers through her hair to check for any knots or tangles; she didn't want to be Amaya's next victim. "Looks like I'm good. Did you find a brush? I know there's one somewhere around-"

"Found one!" Amaya grabbed a brush that was sticking out of Sam's purse and brought it over to her. "I'm going to start now. Close your eyes, and no peeking! I want it to be a surprise."

Sam snorted. "You know there are no mirrors in here, right? I can even see what-"

"Close them," Amaya repeated, much more firmly this time. Sam inhaled and exhaled deeply before obediently closing her eyes. A few seconds later, Amaya started brushing her hair at a surprisingly gentle pace. "Mommy never lets me do her hair like this."

"Why not?" Sam asked, her right eyebrow lifting curiously.

"I don't know. I wish she was as cool as you are."

"Hey, don't say that." Despite being instructed to keep her eyes closed, she opened them anyway because she knew Amaya couldn't see her from her current position. "Your mother is a very cool person."

"No, she's not." Amaya stopped brushing her hair at that point and started to braid it. "She's always leaving me with uncle Danny to go do cooler stuff."

Sam shook her head, being careful not to do it too hard so that she didn't disturb Amaya's work in process. "She leaves you with uncle Danny because she has to work, and trust me, working isn't cool. She'll always have time for you, though. I promise."

"But why can't she just take me to work with her?" Amaya asked

Sam wasn't going to tell her that it was because she was a kid, so she went with a different approach. "Because work is boring and she wants you to have fun, silly. You have nothing to worry about. Trust me."

Amaya didn't answer after that, but she was fairly certain that the girl was smiling now. She was quiet for a minute before announcing, "I'm done. You can look now."

Sam's eyes were already open, so she simply turned around to look at Amaya. "I kind of need a mirror to do that," she responding, chuckling slightly. "Get my handheld one from my purse."

Amaya got up and excitedly rushed over to the purse, digging around inside of it until she found the mirror. When she came back over, she handed it to Sam, who studied her braid in the mirror once she took it. It was sloppy-looking, with part of her hair left out of it. It was also loose, but she didn't care too much about it.

"I like it, Amaya." She smiled and held out her fist. "Nice job, kid."

Amaya grinned and, instead of fist bumping her, hugged her tightly. "Thank you." She immediately tensed up; she wasn't big on hugs, whether the person was a child or an adult, so she awkwardly patted the girl's back.

* * *

Later that night after Amaya went to bed, Sam trudged towards her room with the strong urge to shower and sleep.

Upon opening the door, Danny, who was still lying on the bed, sleepily raised his head and stared over at her. A 'what the heck?' expression quickly clouded his features after that, and she realized that it was because he had noticed the wild state of her hair.

"Amaya did it," she informed him. "She wanted to braid my hair, so I just let her." He nodded in response, resting his head back down on the pillow. "We also ate dinner and watched a movie. I fixed you a plate, so if you're hungry, I can go downstairs and warm it up."

He completely ignored her and closed his eyes, ready to go back to sleep. She slightly took offense to that, but instead of jumping on him for it, she walked over to the other side of the bed and sat beside him.

"Look, I know you're still upset about our argument, but we can either ignore each other like children or talk it out like adults," she told him softly, hoping his answer would be the latter.

Though he didn't open his eyes, he responded with, "You told me to divorce you earlier and you think I want to talk to you now?"

Her shoulders lifted and her head shook from side to side. "I was just upset. I wasn't thinking when I said that." She paused for a moment, breathing in deeply. "I know you want a child, but I don't. I'm just not _ready _for motherhood yet, Danny. Maybe we can reach a compromise instead of arguing about it."

He finally chose to open his eyes at that moment, glaring right into hers. "There's nothing to argue about anymore. You said what you said and I said what I said. It's fine. End of discussion." He rolled onto his other shoulder, opting to face away from her.

For a few seconds, she just sat there on the bed, staring at his back in disbelief before shaking her head slowly. "Yeah. Okay."

* * *

**Author's note: so, do you think Sam was wrong for her divorce comment or was Danny just overreacting? thanks again for your reviews and thoughts.**


	6. Butting Heads

**Chapter Six**

Sam didn't get out of bed the next day until Amaya came into her room at one o'clock and shook her awake. "Aunt Sam! Get up and get dressed!"

For someone who was feeling very somnolent, those weren't the words that she wanted to hear at the moment. She lifted her head from her pillow, the last remnants of sleep being chased away. "Huh?" She had no problem getting up, but getting dressed meant leaving the house, and she was far too lazy for that.

"I said get up and get dressed. Uncle Danny said we're going to the movies," Amaya explained. "After that, we're going to get ice cream!"

Sam was ready to complain about it being too early in the morning for that, but then she remembered that it was actually one in the afternoon. "What movie could possibly be so interesting that I have to sacrifice sleep?" she asked, her eyebrows pinching together.

Amaya steepled her fingers. "It's called_ Snow Way!_" she answered, not understanding that it had been more of a rhetorical question. "It's about a princess and her pet rabbit, who both get stuck in a blizzard and have to-"

"Okay, okay. Let's not put me back to sleep." Sam sat upright and reluctantly slipped out of bed. "I'm guessing that's a kids movie." She hated movies with children as the target audience because she thought they were more annoying than other movies.

Amaya nodded, grabbing Sam's hands and pulling her over to her dresser. "It just came out, so we have to hurry up and go see it. Please get dressed quickly because uncle Danny said we're leaving as soon as he comes back."

Sam frowned, fishing around in her drawer for something to wear for the day. "Wait, he left?" she asked, more upset than surprised. "When? Did he happen to say where he was going?"

Amaya didn't answer, becoming distracted by an ant crawling across the floor. Sam snorted and grabbed some clothes out of her drawer, but after that, Danny walked in. "Hey," he greeted, not at all sounding enthusiastic the way he usually did. "You ready?"

Sam scoffed, glancing down at her pajamas. "Do I _look _ready to you?" He rolled his eyes at her in response, but she ignored that and moved back over to the bed to check under it for her shoes. "Where were you, by the way?"

As she started pushing random shoes to the side to look for her favorite black tennis shoes, she heard Amaya say, "Don't worry, uncle Danny. I didn't tell her that you went to that nice lady from the park's house."

That caught Sam by surprise, causing her to accidentally ram her head against the bed when she tried to slide out from under it. She hissed in pain and rubbed her head, flashing a light glare over at Danny, who was now flabbergasted.

"T-That is _not _where I was! I was over at the movie theater, checking to make sure the movie we're watching is still playing in a few minutes," he explained to her. She didn't buy it, but once Amaya looked away from them, he mouthed, "My ghost sense went off."

"Ah," she mouthed back, nodding understandably. She knew he didn't like discussing ghost-related things around Amaya, so she dropped the subject. "Well, I have to shower first, so..."

"Got it. We'll get out of your hair." He turned to Amaya and held out his hand. "Let's go wait in the car."

"Okay." She placed her hand in his and let him lead her out of the room. Before they fully walked out, though, Sam clasped onto his arm, stopping him. "We're talking later," she said softly, avoiding his gaze.

He stood there for a few seconds before silently walking forward, leaving her in the room alone. She pressed her lips together, resisting the urge to groan with exasperation. The cold shoulder was starting to get really annoying, so she was going to make sure it stopped.

Later, though.

After she showered and got dressed for the day, she went outside to join Danny and Amaya in the car. It was a bit awkward for her because Amaya was watching a video on his phone while using his headphones, meaning that they were both pretty much alone together.

As he pulled out of the driveway, she chanced asking him, "So, how long are you going to give me the cold shoulder for?" When he didn't answer her quickly enough, she exhaled heavily, reached over, and grabbed onto his hand. "Danny, _stop_. Okay? Just stop."

She saw his jaw clench and his shoulders rise and fall in a sigh of defeat. "I'm sorry," he apologized, shaking his head. "I'm just... I don't know."

"I get it." She squeezed his hand, and to her delight, he squeezed hers back. "You're still mad at me, but ignoring me isn't going to resolve anything. We can talk about it later tonight when we get home. For Amaya's sake, though, let's just try to have a good day."

For the first time since their argument, he smiled at her, causing her heart to flutter. "Okay," he agreed, now choosing to focus on driving them to the movie theater.

* * *

"All right, Amaya. Remember what we talked about in the car?"

"Yes, uncle Danny," Amaya confirmed. "Don't talk to strangers, stand close to either you or aunt Sam at all times, and be on my best behavior. Can we go inside now?"

Danny chuckled. "Yeah." He, along with Sam, grabbed her hand and walked into the movie theater. The lobby area wasn't too packed and the snack line wasn't too long, so that's the first place they went over to.

"I want candy!" Amaya gushed, jumping up and down excitedly. "Something with chocolate."

Danny's eyes slid over to Sam for some sort of confirmation, but she shook her head at him. "She's hyper enough," she mouthed. If Amaya was acting like that before she even had any candy, then she was definitely going to be bouncing off the walls after she had some.

"Uh, maybe later." He quickly pointed at something on the menu that Sam didn't catch in time. "How about we get that instead? It looks like it tastes better than candy, right?"

"No!" Amaya shouted, and Sam groaned loudly because she knew what was about to happen. "I want candy! Candy, candy, candy!"

A tantrum. At the snack line in the movie theater, Amaya was throwing a temper tantrum over not being able to get candy.

Danny, not wanting to draw anymore attention their way, cracked and decided against his decision. "Fine, fine. We'll get you some candy, but only if you cut that out," he negotiated.

Sam, still being somewhat inexperienced with tantrum-throwing children, scoffed. "She's not getting anything acting like that." She looked Amaya right in her eyes and told her, "We don't reward anyone for bad behavior."

Amaya stopped shouting, and for a moment, Sam really thought she got through to her, but then she fell to the floor and started screaming. "I want candy!"

Danny abruptly forced his way to the front of the line, ignoring the protests and complaints coming from the impatient people waiting there. "Uh, we need a pack of Skittles. Now, please." He slapped a five dollar bill down onto the counter. "Keep the change."

The cashier standing there obviously sensed his urgency because she immediately snatched up the bill and tossed him a pack of Skittles. After Amaya saw him returning over to her with her candy, she sat up and grinned eagerly.

"Candy!" Her hands outstretched towards the treat and her fingers waggled greedily. To her great disappointment, however, he tossed the Skittles to Sam and scooped her up from the floor.

"Your aunt's right. We don't reward anyone for bad behavior," he reminded her, carrying her out of the theater. "However, if you can peacefully sit outside for four minutes, we'll take you back inside for the movie _and _give you back your Skittles."

Amaya's bright eyes widened and she nodded, obediently sitting on a bench in front of the theater. Sam, who was thoroughly impressed by that, smirked at him. "Did you just casually stick a seven-year-old in timeout without her knowing?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah. I did, didn't I?" His lips curled into a proud smile of his own as he sat down beside Amaya. "I'm surprised we didn't get kicked out of there," he whispered to Sam, who rolled her eyes.

"Please. This is Amity Park. They'd get on a screaming ghost over a screaming child." She sat down beside him, watching as he pulled out his cell phone to start his timer. "Unfortunately, she won this round. She's getting the Skittles, the movie, and a lesson that tells her she can get away with anything by having a tantrum."

He froze upon hearing that. Then, he twisted towards Amaya and softened his voice. "Hey. So, while we're out here, let's talk about what happened in there."

Sam laughed quietly to herself, but let them have that conversation in peace. Her gaze drifted to the right, where she saw a couple playing with a baby in a stroller. They were making funny faces at him, laughing once he smiled at them.

She couldn't help but stare at the vivacious couple. It was almost like their energy attracted her somehow. They just seemed so happy playing with their child and making him laugh that she couldn't help but watch them.

For some reason, she pictured the three of them to be her, Danny, and their child. It was more of a passing thought, but she still felt some type of way while thinking about it. She couldn't quite touch on whatever feeling that was, however, but she knew it was a positive one.

And that scared her.

"Sam?"

At the sound of her name being called, she blinked her way back to reality and cast her eyes over at Danny, who was staring at her expectantly. "Sorry. What'd you say?" she asked, trying to be fully attentive to him this time.

Instead of repeating whatever it was that he had said, he frowned, his curious eyes honing in on her. "Are you okay? You seem a little distracted."

She nodded, waving her hand dismissively. "Yeah, yeah. I'm good. What was it you were saying?" She chose to quickly change the subject because there was no way she was going to tell him what she was just thinking about.

"I asked you if you were ready to go back inside now," he told her. "I just finished speaking to Amaya, and I made it perfectly clear that if she throws another tantrum, we're going home and not doing anything else for the rest of the day."

She smiled, clasping her hands together. "Hopefully that means the rest of our day will go by smoothly." She glanced over at Amaya, who was impatiently bouncing on her heels by the entrance of the theater. "Ready, Amaya?"

"Yes," she drawled out in a whine. "Can we _please_ go inside now? We're going to miss the movie."

Sam reached down for her niece's hand, still retaining her small smile. "We're going, we're going." Amaya's eyes lit up and she practically dragged Sam into the theater with her.

Upon entering, Danny noticed that the snack line was now much shorter than before. "I'll go grab us something to eat," he announced, handing the pack of Skittles he bought earlier to Amaya. "You guys want to come with me or go start on the movie?"

Sam shrugged. ""We'll wait."

"We're going to go start on it!" Amaya answered simultaneously, tugging Sam to the right side of the theater. "See you inside, uncle Danny!"

Sam stifled a chuckle, glancing back over her shoulder at Danny in time to see a grin forming at his lips. "Oh, I see what you did. Leaving me with the impatient seven-year-old girl, huh?" she accused.

"You'll do great," he replied with a laugh. He would've said more, but it was now his turn to order something from the snack counter. She turned back around after that and, with Amaya, started to search around for their assigned theater room.

Once they found it, they entered through the double doors and proceeded into the room. The trailers were still playing, so they took their time finding a seat. Sam already knew that she wanted a seat somewhere in the back because that's usually where she and Danny sat whenever they went there.

"Let's get a seat somewhere in the back," she whispered in Amaya's ear. She guided the young girl up the steps and towards the back of the theater, peering outward for an empty seat. It was dark, so she tried her best to navigate her way through the darkness.

As soon as she reached the top of the stairs, the movie screen flickered to another trailer, one much brighter than the previous one. With that light, she was able to make out the few people who were occupying the back row of seats. One face in particular, however, stood out to her the most.

"Valerie?" she called out, squinting at the woman. She instantly backed out of her decision to sit in that row and turned over her shoulder, ready to leave, but then she heard Valerie respond.

"Oh. Hey, Manson. Where's Danny?"

Sam didn't know why, but she felt the need to correct her. "Fenton."

Even in the lack of decent lighting, she saw Valerie flash her a confused look. "What?"

"Fenton. That's my last name now. You called me Manson."

"Oh. Sorry. First time mistake."

"Not really, because you referred to me as Manson about three times at the park."

"Well, agree to disagree." Valerie took a quick sip of her soda, keeping her glaring eyes connected with Sam's. "Anyway, what brings you here? This is a movie for children, and last time I checked, you don't like children."

For some reason, that struck a chord of anger within her and gave her flashbacks to the whole park situation. "Whether I like children or not, why would that be _any _of your business?" she snapped before glancing at Amaya, who wasn't at all paying attention to them; thankfully, she was busy watching the trailer.

Valerie smiled, shaking her head. "You're right, but word of advice? Don't put your business out there if you don't want it brought back up."

"I didn't put my business out there," Sam growled, stepping up to Valerie and sticking her finger in her face. "I haven't seen you in years, so for you to sit there now and-"

"Hey, hey," Danny intervened, quickly sliding in-between them before a fight could break out. "Uh, Sam, I think I saw some great seats down there in the first row. Let's go."

She quickly remembered that she was in a public place, and in front of a child, so she forced herself to calm down. "Okay. I'm sorry." She pivoted and descended the steps, gingerly tightening her grasp around Amaya's hand as they walked.

She chose an empty seat in the first row, but before she sat down, Danny came up behind her and whispered, "We really need to have a serious heart-to-heart tonight," in her ear.

"Yeah," she agreed, "we really do."

* * *

**A/n: what's Valerie's deal? why is she all on sam's case about children? find out next chapter.**


	7. Revelation

**Chapter Seven**

Sam anchored her attention on Danny as he crossed the room that night to get to his side of the bed. After a long day at the movies and then at home, she had been anxiously awaiting their big 'heart-to-heart conversation'.

He climbed into bed with a husky sigh, slipping underneath the blankets. "Okay, so we should set some ground rules for this conversation." Sam waited for him to continue, her eyebrows curling together. "No talking over the other person, no—"

"You mean like this?" she interjected, a hint of humor seeping into her tone. He rolled his eyes at her, but smiled afterwards. "Sorry. Just kidding. Go on with the rules."

"Right. Well, no interruptions, no secrets, no going to sleep while mad, and we have to keep an open mind about everything we talk about." He extended his hand out to her, studying her closely. "Deal?"

She bit down on her lip and eyed his hand. Then, she accepted his gesture, shaking it slowly. "All right. Deal."

"Good." He moved his hands to his lap as she turned to the side to face him a little better. "So, what do you want to talk about first? I mean, I know there are a few subjects we need to touch on, but—"

"Valerie. What's her deal with me?" Sam cut him off, completely forgetting his ground rules until he frowned at her. "Sorry, sorry. That one was a genuine accident, but I seriously want to cover that subject first."

She knew how much he hated talking about Valerie, but she couldn't help herself; she was curious. The woman's animosity for her certainly couldn't be about anything pertaining to high school because that was years ago, and she thought they somewhat patched up their differences then.

Danny bowed his head and quietly asked her, "Is there anything in particular that you're aiming to talk about?"

Her lips stretched into a thin line, but she nodded. "Why is Valerie always attacking me, especially about children? And why is she constantly hanging out at children play spots with no kids of her own?" she inquired, her right eyebrow rising high.

"_That_," Danny answered abruptly, "I cannot tell you."

Sam scoffed at him, but shrugged nonchalantly. "Okay, well, you just broke your ground rule of holding no secrets, so I'll just break the one of not going to bed mad, then."

She pretended that she was going to lay down and go to sleep, but his hands quickly shot towards her shoulders to grasp them, stopping her. "No, don't do that. I'll speak," he surrendered with a deep sigh. "Remember what I said about keeping an open mind, though."

She rolled her eyes at him. "C'mon, Danny. Look who you're talking to. You know you can tell me anything."

He rolled his head back slowly and closed his eyes. For half a minute, he was silent, but when he spoke again, his voice was soft. "Val lost her son a few years back, so I guess hanging around children-targeted areas is her way of grieving."

Sam felt a rush of mixed emotions at that moment: she was bemused, surprised, and in shock all at once. "I— w-wow," she managed to stammer, shaking her head in disbelief. "That's awful. What happened? I never even knew she had a kid."

Danny opened his eyes again, but he refused to meet her gaze. "She had him when she was 21, but he... passed three years later. I don't feel comfortable with saying his cause of death because that's not my place, so I hope that doesn't go against the 'no keeping secrets' rule."

Her expression sank into one of sympathy. She hadn't known all of that, but then again, it wasn't really her place to. "No, no. It's fine," she replied, shaking her head. "I don't even know what to say. That's such a huge bombshell. Wait. How do you know all of this?"

"Tucker told me," he admitted, shuffling his hand through his hair. "I literally found all of this out today. When I said my ghost sense went off earlier, I was lying. I met up with him to figure out what was up with Valerie, and that's when he told me what happened."

"But why would she tell him what happened before telling you?" Sam pressed.

"I don't know. Either because he was directly involved in that situation somehow or she stopped trusting me with her secrets because she thought I'd just turn around and tell you."

She closed her eyes and raised a hand to her head, fighting off a wave of nausea. "I'm so... confused. I literally have so many questions racing through my head right now."

Right after she said that, she felt Danny grab that hand and lower it, holding onto it in a comforting manner. "And I'll sit here and answer all of your questions, even if it takes me all night," he told her. She opened her eyes again, piercing them right into his.

"That whole situation is devastating, but while it is, it doesn't really tell me why she's so against me not wanting a child." She clasped onto his other hand and squeezed it lightly. "What's her deal? Why does she have it out for me?"

"Because she knows that's your weakness. She knows the subject of children bothers you, so she brings it up to stir a reaction from you," he explained. "At least, that's the only logical thing I can think of."

"No, no. This feud is way deeper than children. Trust me." Since she had a lot of questions on her mind, she chose not to linger on the topic of her versus Valerie. "We should probably talk about the park incident now, though. That's what we argued about the most."

"No. I don't want to discuss that." Danny pulled his hands away from her and lowered his head, pressing his palm against his forehead. "My response to Valerie's remark was so..." he trailed off, not finishing his sentence.

She didn't understand what he meant by that, so she thought back to the conversation between him and Valerie at the park. She couldn't quite remember what response he was referring to at first, but once she did, her mouth slacked open.

_"Are you married, Val? Do you have children of your own?"_

"Oh, my gosh. Danny, that's not your fault," she said softly, frowning at him. He closed his hands together and nodded, but she obviously knew he wasn't listening to her. "Hey. I'm serious. You didn't know, so don't beat yourself up over it."

He rolled his head to the left and shrugged. "How do you know I didn't trigger some sort of suppressed emotion within her that day because of my stupid response?" he asked her.

"Honestly, that's something you'd have to take up with her. I can't answer that question for you." He gave her a weird look, to which she smiled faintly at. "Yes, you can talk to her about it. If it means you'll be able to stop beating yourself up over it, then I'm okay with it."

He grinned, flashing his perfectly white teeth. Only for a few seconds, though, because before she knew it, the smile was gone. "Look, about our fight," he started, his tone becoming much more serious, "I want to apologize."

"You do?" she asked.

"Yeah, I do. It was wrong of me to call you selfish and it was wrong of me not to defend you against Valerie. It'll never happen again and I'm sorry," he apologized. "I also shouldn't have gotten so angry at your choice to not have children."

A warm, growing smile formed at Sam's lips. "I'm sorry, too. You know, for eavesdropping on you and Valerie and for being so harsh with you during our argument. There were much calmer ways to word everything I said, but instead, I took the angrier route."

"Yeah, you totally did."

She rolled her eyes. "Danny—"

"_But_," Danny slowly leaned forward, not once breaking eye contact with her, "I forgive you," he said in a seductive whisper. He closed the distance between them and pressed his lips to hers, gently pushing her down against the bed and deepening the kiss.

* * *

"Are you sure you want me to do this?" Danny asked Sam for the millionth time the following morning.

She started fixing the buttons on his shirt, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. "Yes, I'm sure. I already told you that I was okay with you going to see Valerie yesterday night. Well, as long as you're bringing Tucker with you."

"That I am," he confirmed. "You going to be okay with Amaya for awhile?"

"Yeah," she scoffed. "I've babysat her by myself before." When she was done toying with his buttons, she patted his chest and gazed into his eyes. "Please let me know how it goes, and no funny business. Tucker's going to be watching you at all times."

"Even if he wasn't, no funny business would happen." He closed his eyes and kissed her on the forehead gently. "Want me to go wake up Amaya for you?"

Right on cue, Amaya came careening down the steps. Sam chuckled softly and shook her head. "Something tells me that she's already up," she replied.

To her great confusion, her niece ran straight over to her and hugged her leg tightly. "Oh, aunt Sam! You're okay!" she cried out, nuzzling her cheek against the fabric of Sam's jeans.

Perplexed now, Sam stared down at the terrified girl with wide eyes. "Yes, I'm okay... why wouldn't I be?"

Danny crouched down beside Amaya and draped an arm around her shoulders. "Hey, hey, slow down. What's wrong?" he asked, eyeing her warily. "Did you have a bad dream?"

She shook her head profusely. "Last night, I heard aunt Sam making these noises like she was hurt." Upon seeing both Danny and Sam's puzzled expressions remain intact, she started to imitate the noises she heard yesterday.

Or rather, the _moaning_.

When Sam felt her face radiating like a hot pan, she immediately knew that she had turned beet red. "Uh..." was all she could muster. She desperately glanced over at Danny, but he wore an equivalent look of shock on his face.

"Yeah," Amaya nodded, "that's the sound I heard. Were you hurting her, uncle Danny?"

"No," he answered quickly, scoffing and raising the pitch of his voice the way he usually did whenever he was lying. "We were just, uh..."

"Having a very aggressive pillow fight," Sam chimed in, laughing nervously. "I did get hurt a little, but the most important thing here is that I'm okay and we never have to bring this up again."

Danny rose to his feet, nodding in agreement. "_Especially_ not to your mother."

Amaya's eyebrows curled together and she crossed her arms over her abdomen. "So, you guys—"

He hastily swept her up from the floor and into his arms, carrying her into the kitchen. "Okay, Amaya, no more questions! It's time for breakfast." She squealed and giggled, swinging her legs back-and-forth through the air.

"What's for breakfast?" she asked as he set her down onto the floor.

"I don't know. Whatever your aunt decides to make." He kissed the top of her head before moving over to Sam and pecking her on the cheek. "I'll be back soon. If you need anything, call me."

She tangled her fingers together and smiled uneasily at him. "Okay. Same to you. Make sure you call me afterwards to let me know how it went."

"I will."


	8. Amaya's New Toy

**Chapter Eight**

Two hours after breakfast ended, Sam flicked the TV channel to a random show and settled down on the living room couch. Danny still hadn't returned yet, but he shot her a text message a few minutes prior to let her know that he was still alive.

Amaya gladly kept her company; the young girl was currently sitting on the carpet in front of the couch, watching TV while playing with her Legos. Though Sam kept an eye on her, she wasn't really paying much attention to her or the show because she was busy reading her favorite book.

She was just beginning to dive into the juicy part of the story when she heard Amaya gasp. "Aunt Sam, look! Look, look, look!" she exclaimed. Alarmed, Sam's eyes darted from the page she was reading and over to her niece, who was pointing at something on the TV screen.

The show had switched over to a commercial about a new limited Barbie doll that was currently in stores. Sam didn't see the point or the hype, so she casually shrugged. "It's a doll. You have, like, a million of them in your bag upstairs," she reminded Amaya, who groaned.

"Yeah, but they're not nearly as cool as _that _one." She closed her hands together and started to gush about the new doll. "She has prettier hair, prettier clothes, and prettier shoes! The rest of my dolls look so ugly in comparison to her."

Sam frowned. "Then maybe you should stop comparing them."

"And maybe _you _should buy it for me," suggested Amaya, her big eyes lighting up with hope. "Today. Right now."

"Right now?" Sam was way too comfortable in her current position to get up and go anywhere, so she tried coming up with a quick excuse. "See, I would, but I'm still in a lot of pain from my, uh... pillow fight earlier."

Amaya rose to her feet, completely ditching her Legos. "Then we can walk to the store," she replied, a look of determination clouding her features. "I've heard that walking off the pain can help, so come on!"

The toy store was about a four minute walk away from the house, so Sam decided to just get up and go. "Fine." If a brand new doll would satisfy Amaya enough to keep her distracted all day, then a brand new doll was what that little girl was going to get.

Sam was going to make sure of that.

She slipped her best running shoes onto her feet and tied the laces tightly. "All right, so, we go inside, grab the doll, pay, and then walk out. No lollygagging, no asking for additional toys, and no temper tantrums."

Amaya's face contorted into a grimace. "We aren't Black Friday shopping, aunt Sam."

"Believe it or not, shopping for a limited time doll is considered Black Friday shopping." Sam grabbed the remote from the couch and stood up, shutting off the TV. "Let's make this trip quick. My book was getting interesting."

"I need to put on my shoes first," Amaya told her. She didn't give Sam the chance to respond, bolting towards the front door to grab her shoes from the door mat.

Sam dug through her favorite mini backpack for her wallet, sticking it into her back pocket afterwards. She glanced out the window, immediately making a mental note of the dark clouds scattered across the sky.

"We should probably drive there. I'm pretty sure it's going to rain," she informed Amaya, who was struggling to put on her shoes. "How are you still on the first shoe? I thought you'd be on the second one by now."

She shrugged, brandishing the shoe in her hand. "I don't remember if this is the left one or the right one."

Instead of rolling her eyes or sighing with annoyance, Sam simply went over to help her. She squinted at the shoe, easily identifying it as the left one. "Here." She took it from Amaya and slipped it onto her left foot before tying the laces.

"I'll do the right shoe," Amaya volunteered. She pretty much just mimicked what Sam had done, only sloppier. After she finished, she all but jumped to her feet and tried to open the front door. "Let's go, let's go!"

"Wait," Sam responded, "I need the car keys first."

"No time! We can walk quickly and make it back before the rain comes down." Amaya reached out for her hand and tugged her towards the front door. "I'm so excited!"

"Me too. I'm internally peeing big puddles of rainbows," was Sam's sarcastic reply. She stepped out of the house, locking the door behind her. "Are you sure you don't want me to just drive us th- and now we're walking."

Amaya had pulled her forward mid-sentence with a small giggle. "I can't wait for that doll," she said, grinning. "I want to brush her hair and dress her in a lot of pretty clothes."

Sam grimaced, rounding the corner and proceeding down the sidewalk. "I was never much of a Barbie doll type of child growing up," she told her niece, "so if I seem unenthusiastic about this whole thing, it's because I am."

"It's okay." Amaya moved down the sidewalk briskly, gingerly pulling Sam along with her. They walked in silence for a minute before she chose to speak again. "Aunt Sam, were you going to fight that lady at the theater yesterday?"

Sam froze; she had honestly forgotten that Amaya was present during that. "No, sweetheart," she answered, sighing. "I just lost control of my temper for a second. I'm sorry you had to see that."

"No, I'm sorry," Amaya apologized, avoiding a crack in the sidewalk. "I called her a nice lady when she's really a mean lady."

Sam frowned, flicking her gaze outward in search of the toy store. "She's not mean. She's just... hurting." She said the last word so quietly that Amaya didn't catch it, which was good because it wasn't meant for her to hear.

As soon as they reached the toy store, it started to drizzle outside, so they rushed into the building. The place was packed with shoppers, all of them scattered around the store and browsing different toys.

Sam leaned down towards Amaya and asked her, "So, where are the dolls located? I've never actually been in here before."

"I don't know. I've never been in here either." Her eyes swept around the store, but there were too many people blocking shelves for her to see if there were any dolls on it. "Let's just go through each aisle until we find it."

"Sounds time-consuming, but sure," Sam agreed, gently tightening her grip on Amaya's hand. "You look on the left side of the aisle while I tackle the right side."

"Deal."

The first aisle was doll-free, so they tried the second one. Still, nothing, so they navigated their way down the third one. "It's got to be around here somewhere," Amaya murmured, searching down the left side of the aisle.

Sam wasn't having any luck finding the doll herself. "Maybe they're all sold out. The commercial _did _say that the dolls were limited, so-"

"It's right here!" Amaya shouted, pointing to the only Barbie doll left on the top shelf. Sam, who had been searching on the opposite side of the aisle, stopped immediately and spun around.

"Finally," she drawled, rushing over to the packaged doll like it was a prize that she had won. She went to grab it, but as soon as her fingers touched the sides of it, another person came and tried to take it off the shelf.

It was an older man who looked to be about forty-years-old. He smiled politely at her, but didn't remove his hands from the box. "Sorry about that. I'll just take this doll here and be on my way."

He attempted to pull the box out of Sam's grasp, but she firmly held onto it, confusing him. "Not to sound like a kindergartener or anything, but I saw this_ and_ got to it first, so..." She pulled the box in her direction, but the man stubbornly tugged it back towards himself.

"Yes, but I have a niece who would absolutely adore this as a birthday gift," he told her, making another attempt at taking the toy. She didn't budge on her decision to purchase the doll, so she pulled it back over.

"That's cute or whatever, but I actually have my niece present and standing with me." Her level of patience was beginning to wane, so she quickly got to the point. "I'm taking this doll with me because I was here first."

The man's friendly act quickly faded and he scowled at her. "And I happen to believe that I was born first, young lady."

"And yet I still got to the doll first, so that piece of information was irrelevant," she countered, glaring at him. "Hand it over, buddy."

He snorted. "Not a chance in hell. You hand it over."

"That's not going to happen. I mean, we can duke it out if you want to, but that seems a little unnecessary to do over a doll."

"Exactly, so let go of it."

"No."

They both stubbornly stood there in the middle of the aisle, pretty much playing tug-of-war with the Barbie doll. Amaya simply stood to the side and watched them, unsure as to what exactly she was supposed to do.

Then, without thinking, she grabbed a small toy from the shelf behind her and discreetly dropped it into the man's coat pocket. Then, she stole his wallet from his back pocket and flung it in the opposite direction. Because she was little, it didn't go too far, but it distracted him long enough for Sam to successfully yank the box from his grip.

"Let's go!" she exclaimed, grabbing Amaya's hand and bolting out of the aisle. She thought her niece would be terrified and screaming, but instead, she was laughing and squealing. Because of that, she smiled mid-run instead of panicking.

There were only two people standing in the checkout line, with one of them checking out items, so Sam slid in front of the second person. "Sorry," she apologized after receiving a glare, "but we're in a bit of a rush."

Amaya flashed a bright smile at the upset woman. "We only have one item, so it won't take long, ma'am."

Sam looked back over her shoulder and saw the man angrily storming down the aisle, heading straight for them. Since it was now her turn to check out her toy, she handed it to the cashier and quickly pulled out her wallet.

"Just keep the change," she said, tossing down a twenty onto the counter. As soon as the cashier scanned the Barbie doll, Sam took it from her and handed it to Amaya just as the man caught up to them.

"You two aren't going anywhere with that!" he growled, but they ignored him and sprinted out of the store. For a second, Sam thought he was going to catch up to them because he was hot on their heels, but the sound of the store's alarm beeping made him stop abruptly.

Despite him being stopped by security after that, Sam and Amaya continued running home, laughing all the way there. They didn't even care that it was now full-on raining because they were filled with so much adrenaline.

Once they arrived home and went inside, Sam shut the door and slid her back against it until she was sitting on the floor. Amaya followed suit, and for several seconds, they simply sat there, panting.

Then, they started laughing boisterously.

"You're the best aunt ever," Amaya said once she recovered from her fit. Sam rolled her head to the left, smiling warmly at the girl. "I've had so much fun with you and uncle Danny so far. I'm going to be sad when I have to go back to mommy's house."

That made Sam's heart swell, but she retained her smile. "Yeah," she replied softly, "me too, kid." She then held out her fist, chuckling. "That was some getaway, though."

Amaya giggled, bumping her fist against Sam's. "Yeah."


	9. Unexpected Reassurance

**Chapter Nine**

"So, what happened with Valerie?" Sam questioned once Danny stepped into the living room. His ghost sense went off shortly after they spoke near the front door, so while he handled that, she went into the living room to finish reading her book.

"I couldn't find a way to bring up the topic." He sat beside her on the couch and moved his hands behind his head. "That, and she seemed so happy today. I wasn't going to ruin that by bringing up such a dark subject."

"That makes sense," she murmured, frowning. "So then, you're good on apologizing?"

"Yeah. She wasn't acting strange around me, so I don't think that comment bothered her too much."

Sam smiled faintly at that. "That's good, I guess. Just push it out of your head for now." She turned to the side and leaned her shoulder against the couch. "I kind of regret snapping at her like that yesterday. Especially in front of Amaya, you know."

Danny squinted at her for a few seconds before scooting closer to her. "You like her," he accused, his eyes penetrating hers. "And you were worried about her not liking you. Look how much she's warmed up to you."

She scoffed at him, averting her gaze. "I don't know what you're talking about." In response to her, he chuckled.

"Oh, please. You bought her a doll."

"So? I buy you things, but that doesn't mean I like you," she playfully retorted. He raised an eyebrow at her and smirked, causing her to laugh. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. She's honestly not so bad. She's cool."

"Really? Nah. I don't believe you anymore."

"I'm serious."

"Mhm."

"No, for real! If we have a daughter, I want her to be just like Amaya," Sam unconsciously admitted. Once she realized what she said, her eyes widened and slid over to Danny, who looked just as shocked as she did.

"What did you just say?" he asked, though she was certain that he had heard her loud and clear. Despite that, she still chose to act oblivious.

"Hm?" Her eyebrows rose high and she casually raked her fingers through her hair. "I don't remember."

"No, no. You don't get to 'hm' me and then fake amnesia after saying something like that," Danny replied. "You said if we have a daughter. Does that mean you somewhat changed your mind about that subject?"

Sam briefly closed her eyes, mostly because he was staring at her a little too long for her liking. "Uh, sure. Somewhat. That was a strong 'if', you know," she answered, flicking her hand out dismissively.

His expression brightened and a toothy grin formed at his lips, causing her heart to skip a beat. "Hey, I'll take that over nothing!" He excitedly leaned forward and crashed his lips against hers, catching her in an off-guard kiss.

She lightly curled her arms around his neck and returned the kiss with additional passion. Before their make-out session could escalate, though, they heard Amaya exclaim, "Yuck!" from the side.

Instantly, they split away from each other and blushed a bright shade of crimson. Danny awkwardly cleared his throat and stammered, "Uh, w-what's wrong? Weren't you playing with your new doll?"

Amaya nodded. "I was, but then your phone started to ring from your room." She handed over his cell phone and grimaced. "It stopped ringing, but I saw mommy's name pop up on the screen."

He frowned, but swept his attention to his phone. "Er, yeah. She did call me." He turned to Sam and held up a finger. "I'm going to take this. I'll be right back."

Once he got up and left the living room, Amaya walked over to Sam and placed a hand on her knee. "Do you think my mommy's calling because she's coming to take me away from you and uncle Danny?"

Sam didn't know how to react to that, so she merely sighed and replied with, "She's your mother. She's not taking you away from us because you were hers to begin with."

"Yeah, but I don't want to go back home. I like it here. Mommy's always busy and never wants to do anything with me the way you do," Amaya responded, sounding like she was on the verge of tears.

"Amaya..." Sam drew a deep breath, placing a tender hand on top of her niece's. "She may get busy sometimes, but that doesn't mean she doesn't want to do things with you. She loves you more than anything in this world."

Amaya sniffed and wiped at her right eye with her wrist. "I love her, too, but will I still get to see you after I leave?" she asked.

A surge of pain shot through Sam's heart after she heard that question. Like a goldfish, her mouth opened and closed because she wasn't sure what to say. She wasn't used to a child actually _wanting_ to be around her.

Before she could blurt out an answer, Danny entered the living room again with his cell phone held out towards Amaya. "Your mom wants to speak to you," he told her.

She took the phone from him and raised it to her ear, shuffling away from the living room. He watched after her for a few seconds before turning to Sam. "She's sad already? I was gone for a minute."

"Yeah, well, this only took five seconds." She crossed her arms and leaned back against the couch. "So? What did Jazz say?"

"She said that she's probably coming back sometime next week. She's still tackling a lot of work. For the most part, though, she only called to talk to Amaya."

"Did you tell her that we stopped doing the screen time rules?"

"No. I agreed to listen to an update from her, not a full-blown lecture."

Sam chuckled once before slightly bowing her head. "Poor kid doesn't want to leave us," she said softly. "That's what she's so sad about. She thinks that Jazz is too busy for her."

"That's not true," Danny denied, smiling faintly at her. "Jazz is a mom first and a business woman second. She's a fantastic mother to Amaya, Sam, and I know that one day, you'll be a fantastic mother, too."

She knew he was about to dive into the children topic yet again, so she groaned and held up a hand to stop him. "Danny—"

"Wait. Let me finish," he interjected, his demeanor becoming much more serious. "I'm not saying that to coax you into having a child. I'm saying it because it's true. You knew how much work Amaya was going to be, yet you still chose to partake in this."

Sam drew a deep, shuddering breath. "Danny, I—"

"You're mom material, Sam, whether you think so or not. You went from having doubts about her to warming up to her, comforting her, and protecting her," he continued. "If you're this good with our niece, then I know you'll be a natural when it comes to our own child."

She raised her eyes towards the ceiling as moisture began to gather in them. "You know, I hate that you're so sweet. Seriously, it's sickening," she laughed, blinking away her tears. "I need more time to think about this."

Danny's lips curled into a warm smile. "There's no rush. Take as much time as you need."

* * *

The following day, Sam hastened around the house with her right hand gripping her cell phone against her ear. "For the millionth time, Danny, _no_. I don't see your red ball anywhere around the house."

_"Are you sure? Because I know for a fact that it was somewhere in our room the last time I saw it. Please check again."_

She rolled her eyes and lightly kicked one of his shoes to the side. "No. It's not in here. I literally tore up the room searching for it, so because you wasted my time, you're cleaning this mess when you get home."

_"Fine, but wait. __I already told Amaya that you were bringing that ball to us at the park."_

She huffed in annoyance and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Well, why would you tell her that if you knew the ball was missing?"

_"Hey, in my defense, I was still half-asleep when she dragged me out of the house."_

Currently, Danny and Amaya were at the park while Sam was at home. She was getting ready to leave, however, as she had a few errands that she wanted to run before they arrived back home.

That was a little difficult to do when he wanted her to hunt down a ball that she wasn't even sure existed.

She checked each room upstairs for no particular reason before heading over to the staircase. "What, do you want me to swing by the store and get you a new ball, you big baby?" she teased, smirking.

Though they were on the phone with each other and not face-to-face, she pretty much saw him roll his eyes at her. _"No thanks. We'll manage. Are you getting ready to leave, though?"_

"Yeah," she answered, getting ready to head out of the house. As she went to grab her keys from the key rack in the kitchen, she heard someone knock softly on the front door. "Hey, I'll call you back in a few."

_"A few? A few what? Seconds, minutes, hours?"_

She laughed into the phone before hanging it up and moving towards the door to answer it. She half-expected the person who knocked to be the daily mail delivery man, but when she noticed who it actually was, she flinched.

"Valerie?"

Valerie smiled and waved rather awkwardly. "Hey. Sorry to drop in randomly like this, but I was hoping that we could talk for a minute or two."

Sam blinked twice before forcing a smile onto her face. "Yeah, no problem." She reluctantly took a step back and motioned towards the inside of her house. "Want to come in? I can spare a few minutes before I have to go."

Valerie shook her head and pointed over at the rocking bench on the porch. "Over there works."

"True." Sam walked to the right and took a seat on the bench with Valerie following suit. "So, what brings you here? I don't recall telling you where I lived."

"That's because you never did. Danny gave me his address when I saw him yesterday. You know, 'in case of an urgent emergency' or whatever," Valerie explained, shifting uncomfortably.

"Oh." Sam pressed her lips together and averted her gaze. "Is there an urgent emergency?"

"No. I, uh, wanted to apologize for how I've been acting towards you lately," Valerie said, sighing. "I guess I was still holding a grudge against you from high school."

"High school?" Sam scoffed, though she wasn't truly surprised. This was the same woman who took her grudge against Phantom and rode it until the wheels fell off.

"I know, I know. That was a long time ago, so I'm sorry. I'm also sorry about all of the children remarks I shot at you," Valerie apologized, frowning deeply. "Those were insensitive."

"Yeah," Sam replied, the pitch of her voice raising slightly. "What was up with that?"

"Honestly? I don't know. I really don't know. I guess I noticed that it bothered you, so I kept bringing it up to push your buttons."

"Oh. Well, don't worry about it. It's fine."

"Thanks."

They both lapsed into an uncomfortable silence for about a minute before Sam quietly said, "I heard about what happened, Valerie." In return, Valerie cast a curious glance over at her. "You... had a son."

"Who told you about that?" Valerie demanded, twisting towards Sam so quickly that the woman almost jumped up instinctively. Her face scrunched into a scowl and she pointed a finger in Sam's face. "It was Foley, wasn't it?"

"Uh," Sam drawled, her eyes slowly flicking left and right in an awkward manner. She then raised her hand towards Valerie's accusing finger and lowered it. "No. Actually, it was Danny."

"Really?" Valerie seemed more shocked than surprised. "But I never told him I had a son. I only told Foley."

"And who do you think told Danny?" Sam asked, resisting the urge to say, "Duh," afterwards. "That's not important, though. I just wanted to tell you that whatever happened with your son, I'm so sorry about it."

Valerie looked away from her, choosing to stare down at her feet instead. "You know, I used to be just like you. Stubborn, bossy, overbearing, annoyingly outspoken-"

"Is there a point to this?" Sam impatiently interposed. Valerie wrapped her forearms around her abdomen and smiled weakly.

"Yeah. I also didn't want a child like you, but I ended up having one anyway. He was a mistake, but he was the best mistake I ever made," she admitted, her tone of voice gentle. "He changed me."

Sam's features softened, her expression taking on more of a compassionate look. "Changed you?" she questioned. "How?"

"Well, he more so changed my life for the better. Everything I knew and did before him faded away. I was living for someone else, and that someone else was the most important person in my world."

"Valerie," Sam replied, "you don't have to talk about it."

"It's okay. I want to." Valerie closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. "I matured as a person. I started to worry about all the things I once gave a passing thought to. I was more tender, more compassionate. It was both refreshing and terrifying for me."

Sam started to rub her hand over her chest in a slow, circular motion. She wasn't used to this open side of Valerie, which only interested her enough to make her want to tune in more.

"I don't want to get into his death. I'm not ready to share that story yet, but I will say that to this day, I still feel like I lost a part of me. The pain is just as fresh as it was back then, but do I regret having him? No."

Sam's gaze drifted away from Valerie and outward at nothing in particular. "And why's that?" she asked quietly, almost as if she didn't want to be heard.

"Because he was the best thing that has _ever _happened to me," Valerie responded. "You say you don't like children, but the way you act around your niece says otherwise."

Sam frowned. "Well, yeah, because she's my niece."

"That's my point. You don't necessarily have to like other kids just as long as you love your own unconditionally. If that day ever comes for you, I already know you'll be a fantastic mother."

"But what if I'm not?" Sam blurted out. "What if I'm not loving enough, understanding enough, empathetic enough-"

"Sounds like you're just scared of being a bad mother. I was like that, too, but the only thing I can say is that you'll never know how good of a mother you'll be until you go through the experience," Valerie advised.

Sam didn't say anything, but only because she didn't know what to say. She had never received that much advice about a subject she was sensitive about, especially not from her former nemesis.

"If it's any consolation," Valerie continued, "Paulina used to hate children, too, but now she has two daughters of her own. I have to admit, she's great with them."

"You're kidding." Paulina was the dead last person that Sam pegged to be compassionate and motherly. "I can't believe that."

"Yep. Star told me." Valerie scratched the back of her neck and let a long sigh roll away from her mouth. "Look, if she's a good mom to her children, then you'll be a good one to yours. You're not evil. You know right from wrong. You'll be amazing."

Sam smiled gently. "You think so?"

"I know so. You'll do fine. You and Danny both," Valerie replied, glancing down at her wristwatch. "I have to go." She stood up and straightened out her shirt before glancing back at Sam. "Parenthood is a wonderful experience. Don't let fear block it for you."

"Thanks, Val. I really appreciate that."


	10. Four Weeks Later

**Chapter Ten**

A little over four weeks later on a Saturday morning, Sam found herself completely exhausted.

She couldn't even get out of bed, but it wasn't like she had actually tried to. Each time she woke up, she rolled over and closed her eyes again with the intention of going back to sleep. She did this several times until Danny came into the room to finally get her out of bed.

"Sam, it's two in the afternoon. You've slept all morning, and we promised Amaya that we'd take her to the mall to find a 'welcome back' gift for Jazz when she comes back on Tuesday," Danny reminded her, shaking her shoulder when she didn't budge.

"We'll go tomorrow." She shrugged his hand off of her and turned her head to the side, facing away from him. "I'm way too tired to go anywhere today."

"I don't know what to tell you then, because Amaya's currently downstairs waiting for us. She's already dressed and everything, so get up." When she showed no sign of getting up, he huffed in annoyance. "I'll turn this bed intangible."

"Go ahead," she challenged, keeping her eyes closed. "I'll sleep anywhere."

"Why are you so tired, anyway? We didn't go anywhere yesterday and you went to bed on time last night."

"I don't know, Danny. Just go to the mall without me and let me sleep."

"No." Danny was relentless, ripping her blanket away from her curled up form. She was curious as to what he was going to do next, but once he started to pick her up, she instantly regretted wondering that.

"Danny!" she exclaimed, trying to writhe her way out of his grasp. Boy, was he strong. "I'm seriously not in the mood. Put me down, _now_!"

"Okay, okay," he surrendered, gently setting her onto her feet. She scowled darkly and straightened out her shirt, oblivious to the confused look on his face. "Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed or something?"

She paused what she was doing to frown at him. Now that it was mentioned, she realized that she was, in fact, being a bit harsh with him. "Sorry. I'm just really sleepy for some reason."

He slid his fingernails through her hair with a small smile. "And grouchy, but that's okay. Once you walk around for a little, you'll feel more awake." He retracted his hand as she nodded and crossed the room. "Are you getting sick?"

"Probably, but I'm pretty sure it's just aunt Flo coming for her monthly visit," she replied, resisting the urge to run back over to her bed and fall asleep on it. "I should be fine tomorrow."

"Yeah, hopefully. Got anything in mind for Jazz's gift?" Danny asked, taking a seat on the bed in Sam's former spot.

"Not a clue, she grumbled, kneeling on the floor in front of her dresser. "How do we even know she's coming back on Tuesday? She's been saying that for weeks now. What's taking her so long to get back?"

"I honestly don't know," was the Halfa's response to her. She nodded and leaned her head against the dresser, closing her eyes. "There were a lot of reasons involved, but she used these huge words when explaining them, so I..."

She blocked him out and started to doze off right there on the floor. She felt drained, like all her energy had been sucked right out of her. She was hoping that Danny would just ignore her and leave her there, but unfortunately, he didn't.

"Come on, Sam," he said, pulling her up from the floor. She opened her eyes, sighing in annoyance, but still let him help her up. "I don't know if your sudden fatigue is a shark week thing or an incoming-fever thing."

Sam's head shot up and she glared lightly at him. "I never called it shark week. I said aunt Flo."

He blinked twice before laughing nervously. "Oh. Right."

* * *

"Okay, uncle Danny. I spy with my little eye something black."

Danny smirked and tapped his finger on the steering wheel of his car. "Uh," he drawled, searching around for something matching that description. There were a lot of things, but one thing in particular that stood out was a black car beside his. "That car."

"Nope." Amaya was grinning smugly now. "Guess again."

"Hm." He swiveled the wheel to the right, turning down the adjacent street. "It's kind of hard to search for things while I'm driving."

"But you're really close. It's something black and white," his niece hinted, giggling.

"That could be anything. Pick something else."

"I can't. You'd be able to guess it too easily."

Danny chuckled, shaking his head. "Tell you what. Aunt Sam will play this with you now and then I'll continue playing when we're at the mall," he reasoned. "Right Sam?"

When he didn't hear a response from her, he glanced over at her, only to discover that she was asleep. Her hand was pushed up between her head and the window, serving as a pillow of some sort.

He frowned at her appearance, but turned his eyes back onto the road. "Scratch that. I guess I'll keep playing with you." He was about to resume the game, but then Sam's phone started to ring from its place in her side pocket.

"Aunt Sam's phone is ringing," Amaya announced. "Want me to answer it?"

"No, sweetheart. I got it." Danny steadied one hand on the steering wheel and used the other one to pull Sam's phone from her pocket. He saw that it was Jazz calling, so without thinking twice, he answered and put the phone on speaker.

_"Sam! Thank God I got a hold of you. I've called Danny several times, but he didn't answer. Is everything okay?"_

He rolled his eyes at the concerned tone of his older sister. "I accidentally left my phone at home, Jazz, but yes, everything's okay."

There was brief moment of silence before she continued speaking. _"Danny? Wait, why do you have Sam's phone?"_

"Why not?" he retorted, pulling his car into the parking lot of the mall. "Anyway, what's wrong, Jazz? Is there another complication or something with the trip?"

_"Surprisingly, no. I'm still due to head home Monday, so I'll see you Tuesday when you get me from the airport. How's Amaya?"_

Before Danny could answer, Amaya chimed in. "Hi, mommy."

_"Hi, princess! How are you feeling today?"_

The young girl puffed out her lower lip and stared at the phone with sad eyes. "I'm sad. I don't want to go back home. I want to stay with uncle Danny and aunt Sam. Can we move in with them?"

The half-hybrid nearly choked on his own saliva, but rather than jump in the middle of that, he chose to let Jazz handle it. _"No, baby. I'm sorry. You can visit them on the weekends if you want to, though."_

Amaya's sad expression quickly melted away and was replaced by one of ire. "Why can't we stay with them? Can I move in with them instead, then?"

_"No, Amaya. End of discussion."_

Danny, sensing a tantrum coming, snatched up the phone and took it off speaker. "Sorry about that, Jazz," he apologized, cradling the phone between his ear and his shoulder as he put the car in park and shut off the engine.

_"It's fine. I'll talk to her about that later. You and Sam must be quite the aunt and uncle. Is she certain that she doesn't want any children, by the way?"_

"I..." he trailed off, taking a deep breath. "I honestly don't know, but I'm not going to rush her or harass her about it anymore. I'll just let things play out however they play out. I'm fine with the way things are now."

_"Ah, so you've had a change of heart. Listen, I'll bug you about this later, but for now, I have to go. Tell Amaya I love her and I'll speak to her later."_

He nodded, which he quickly realized was pointless because she couldn't see him. "See you." He hung up the phone and put it in his pocket, choosing to hold onto it for Sam. "Amaya, you okay?"

"Yeah," Amaya answered, sniffling. "Mommy's mean. I don't want to get her a present anymore."

"She's not mean. She's only doing what's best for you." Danny unbuckled his seatbelt, glancing up at her in the rearview mirror with a reassuring smile. "Trust me. You have nothing to worry about.

Amaya shrugged. "I guess." She looked away from him after that, choosing to unbuckle her seatbelt. "Is aunt Sam okay?"

"Yeah. I think she's just coming down with a fever," he replied, leaning over to pat Sam's knee. "Sam? Hey, we're here."

It took a few seconds for her to come to, but once she did, she sat upright and checked her surroundings. "Oh. That was quick." She opened her car door and stepped outside, trying to blink away her sleepiness.

"Maybe you should go to bed extra early tonight," Amaya suggested, grabbing onto Danny's hand once they all got out of the car. "That way, you won't be so tired like this anymore."

"I will definitely keep that in mind, sweetie," Sam responded, forcing a smile onto her face. "I won't even wait until tonight. As soon as we get home, I'm going to bed, so let's make this quick."

"Well, Amaya, you heard the woman." Danny scooped the girl up from the ground and set her on his shoulders. She grabbed onto him and laughed, not letting go until he released her after they got inside.

There wasn't anyone near the entrance, but the areas further on down in the mall were relatively packed with people. Since Sam didn't want to be surrounded by them, she pointed at a small shop on the right side of the mall near the food court.

"We're going over there, but before we do, are there any specific gifts you guys have in mind?" she asked her husband and her niece, who both shrugged in response.

"How about a coloring set?" Danny suggested. "Don't those things come with coloring books and a variety of coloring pencils?"

"Not if you're older than twelve," Sam snorted, turning to Amaya. "What about you? Any ideas?"

The young child shook her head and pulled Danny towards the store. "We can go find out, though. Let's go before all the good stuff goes away!"

Sam squinted outward at the store, where she saw that there were no people inside. "Yeah, I don't think that's going to be a problem."

They entered the food court because they had to cross through it in order to get to their destination. While walking, Amaya caught sight of a burger shop and immediately pointed it out. "Uncle Danny, I want a burger!"

Danny followed her finger, staring at the burger place across the food court. "Uh, I don't know. That's not really healthy, and your mom said she was strict about healthiness."

"Please! I won't tell her," she whined, pouting out her lower lip the way she always did when she was about to start a tantrum. "Please, please, please!"

He looked to Sam for help, but she raised her hands and shook her head. "Hey, I don't eat meat, but if she throws a tantrum, that means we can leave," she replied.

"No tantrums." He sighed in defeat, but smiled at his niece. "Fine. We'll get you a burger, but that's it. Keep it a secret from your mom because I don't need her chewing me out again like last time."

"Yay!" She released his hand and darted across the food court, beelining it towards the burger place. Sam and Danny groaned and raced after her, neither of them in the mood to run anywhere.

"All right, pick something from the menu," the Halfa told Amaya once he reached her. He leaned down beside her and looked up at the menu. "You've got a hamburger, cheeseburger, veggie burger..."

Sam frowned to herself; all of a sudden, she felt really strange. The smell of meat always bothered her, but the smell of those burgers made her feel sick to her stomach for some reason.

"I think that meat is bad or something," she remarked, grimacing as the feeling of nausea clawed at her throat. Danny's head spun towards her and he looked at her funny for a second before chuckling.

"It smells like regular hamburgers. Well, to me, at least. You don't eat meat, so I understand if you aren't familiar with the smell."

"Of course I'm familiar with the smell. I grew up with you and Tucker, after all," she retorted.

"I know you didn't say 'no offense', but I'm just going to say 'none taken'." He smirked at her before turning back around, walking Amaya up to the counter to order her food.

The more Sam took in that smell, however, the more her nausea intensified. She heard a faint ringing in her ears and felt the room spinning. "That meat is definitely spoiled," she said weakly, clenching her eyelids shut.

Amaya eyed Sam closely, studying her with a frown. "Aunt Sam, are you okay?" That made Danny turn around and revert his attention onto her, and once he took note of her appearance, he became concerned.

"Sam?" He abruptly moved towards her, which was good timing because she started to collapse. "Hey, hey!" With his instincts kicking in, he deftly caught her and held her in his arms. "Are you okay?"

She didn't answer him with anything other than a groan. By then, the nausea had crept from her stomach to her head. The last thing she heard before blacking out was Amaya asking, "So, I don't get my burger?"

* * *

Four knocks.

Four knocks on the front door is what pulled Danny's attention away from Sam, who was sleeping peacefully on their bed. After the mall incident, he hauled her back home to let her get some rest.

Amaya had moved her Legos into the room so that she could play and watch her aunt sleep at the same time. She didn't get her hamburger, but she didn't care too much because she was more concerned about Sam.

"Is auntie going to be okay?" she asked, pausing in building a Lego fort.

Danny nodded his head, smiling gently at her. "She's just coming down with a fever. I'll take her temperature when she wakes up." Whoever had knocked on the door earlier knocked five more times, so he decided to go and answer it.

"I'll watch over her," Amaya told him, sounding protective. "Until you get back. I promise."

"Thanks, Amaya." He kissed the top of her head before striding out of the room and down the stairs. He figured that it was Tucker who was at the door, but when he opened it, he realized he was wrong. "Valerie?"

Valerie flashed him a strange look. "Why do you look so surprised to see me? We were supposed to go to the movies today." Upon seeing his shocked expression, she bowed her head and nodded. "Of course. You forgot."

"I didn't!" he exclaimed, but when she raised an eyebrow at him, he backpedaled. "Okay, I did, but only because I've been worried about Sam all day."

"Worried? Why?" she questioned, actually appearing concerned.

"Well, first, she's been really exhausted today. I had to force her out of bed. She kept falling asleep almost anytime she could. Then, at the mall, she smelled burgers and got so sick to the point where she passed out."

"Wait, really?" Valerie took a minute to process that, but as the seconds crawled by, her level of concern faded and was replaced by shock. "So, she's experiencing fatigue, nausea, and sensitivity to smell?"

"Uh, yeah," Danny replied, his eyebrows pulling together. "Why do you look so excited about that? That's not a good thing."

"It may not seem like a good thing now, but I promise it will all make sense soon." She grinned and threw her arms around him, squeezing him tightly. "I'm so happy for you guys."

He had no clue what the hell she was talking about, so he just awkwardly patted her back. "Uh... why, exactly?"

"Nothing. No reason." She pulled away from him and drilled her eyes into his, retaining her excited grin. "Don't worry about the movie. We can reschedule."

He opened his mouth to thank her, but she had already turned around and walked off of the porch. He narrowed his eyes and watched her get into her car, waving one last time at him. Though he waved back, he murmured, "Weird," to himself.

* * *

**Author's note: so, what do you think Valerie's so happy about? thanks for reading.**


	11. Panic

**Chapter Eleven**

Sam's eyelids slowly fluttered open, and the first thought that crossed her mind was that she still felt like crap. Definitely not the same way as before, but the nausea was still there. Thankfully, it had subsided a bit.

She noticed that her room was dark, save for her bedside lamp that had been turned on. It was now night time, which meant that she had slept the whole afternoon away.

She leisurely sat up in bed and roamed her eyes around the room. She was alone; Amaya's Legos were sitting on the floor in the corner, which was a telltale sign that the girl had been in there earlier. Where she was now was beyond Sam.

Because she wasn't feeling as exhausted as she was before, she got up out of bed and walked out of the room. She briefly wondered what time it currently was because judging by how dark it was outside, it had to be somewhere around nine or ten in the evening.

She went downstairs with the intention of veering left into the kitchen, but the sound of the television drew her to the living room instead. When she entered the area, she saw Amaya curled up on the couch, asleep. That sight made her smile slightly to herself.

"What are you doing out of bed?"

The sound of Danny's unexpected voice coming from behind her nearly made her jump out of her clothing. She whipped around with a gasp, moving a hand over her chest in surprise. "Do you realize that you almost just gave me a heart attack?"

He looked into her eyes and frowned apologetically. "Sorry about that. Are you okay?" He pressed the back of his hand against her forehead, feeling for a fever. "You don't feel hot, but we should take your temperature now while Amaya's asleep."

"Take my temperature?" she repeated, swatting his hand away from her. "For what? I'm perfectly fine."

"I wouldn't call fainting being perfectly fine. You haven't eaten or drank anything all day." He motioned towards the kitchen, casting her a stern look. "You seriously need to put something in your system."

For some reason, she snorted at that. "Wow, mom." When he lowered his head a little and stared at the floor, she sighed heavily. "Sorry. You're right. I should get something in my system, but I'm really not hungry right now. Water will suffice."

"Water it is, then." He put his hands on her shoulders and met her gaze again, smiling tenderly. "In sickness and in health, remember?" Sam laughed and rolled her eyes at him. "No, I'm serious. I'll help you through shark week, aunt Flo, this fever— whichever one is the issue."

She moved her hand over his and curled her fingers around it. "It's definitely a period thing. I usually get nauseous and worn-out before my cycle." She briefly turned her head to the side to plant a kiss on top of his hand. "I could still use some water, though."

Obediently, Danny led her to the kitchen and poured her a glass of water. She sat down in one of the chairs and waited patiently. "Did you and Amaya ever get that gift for Jazz? Or, you know, the hamburger?" she inquired, only half-joking about the latter.

"No to both of those questions." He set the glass of water down on the table in front of her and smacked his lips together. "You did scare the living daylights out of me and Amaya, though. She cried almost the whole way home."

"Are you serious?" She felt awful, but there was nothing she could've done to prevent what had already happened. "I'm so sorry. It literally all just happened so fast. She didn't freak out too badly, did she?"

"Well, I pretty much had to thoroughly explain to her that you were only unconscious and not dead. That wasn't a fun conversation," Danny murmured, frowning as he thought back to it. "I eventually had to tell her that you were sleeping just to appease her."

"Again, I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry, be careful." He motioned at her glass of water with his chin. "Drink." She obeyed, but not before looking at him strangely for a second. As she drank, he spoke. "I don't think it's a fever. I'm ruling that one out. It's either dehydration or shark week."

She set down the glass and laughed softly. "Stop calling it shark week. That makes me feel like a monster or something." Danny smirked and took a seat beside her, grabbing ahold of her hand.

"Are you sure you feel okay?" he asked, squeezing her hand. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Yes, I feel okay and no, there's nothing you can do. All I need is some rest," she told him. "I should be fine tomorrow."

He smiled warmly at her and rose up from his seat. "Okay, then." He moved behind her and brushed his fingers through her hair, leaning forward to kiss the top of her head. "Go back to sleep. I'll tuck Amaya in."

And back to sleep she went. She slept pretty good throughout the night for the most part, but in the morning, she felt weird. Her breasts were tender and her stomach felt tight, but she brushed them off as pre-period symptoms.

Beside her on the nightstand were a plate of pancakes, a glass of water, and a note in Danny's handwriting. All it told her to do was eat the food, but it somehow made her smile. First, she drank some of the water, but afterwards, she took the plate and went downstairs.

Immediately after getting up, she discovered that she was really hungry, so the pancakes ended up being halfway devoured by the time she reached the kitchen. Amaya was sitting at the table while Danny was standing in front of the stove, cooking breakfast.

"Good morning, aunt Sam," she greeted, waving to her aunt. In return, Sam addressed the child with a smile and a brief nod of her head. "Uncle Danny's making me breakfast and then we're going to the store for mommy's gift."

"And a 'get well soon' gift for you," Danny told Sam, who smirked and approached him from the back to give him a hug. "Good morning. I see you liked my pancakes. I'm making some eggs for Amaya to eat with hers."

"I can see that," she replied, staring at the eggs that he was cooking in the pan. All of a sudden, she felt sick to her stomach, exactly the way she did yesterday at the mall. The only difference was that the inside of her mouth started to water and a weird feeling settled in her throat.

She knew what was about to happen.

She spun over her shoulder and bolted for the nearest bathroom, which was downstairs next to the living room. She dropped to her knees and lurched forward, throwing up right into the toilet.

She heaved until her throat felt sore, but by then, Danny was already by her side. He was holding her hair out of her face with one hand while rubbing her back with the other one. When she finally stopped puking and sat up, he released her hair, but kept his hand on her back.

"Are you okay?" he asked, a high amount of concern bleeding into his tone. Instead of answering, she cast a weak glare over at him. "No, I'm not going to apologize and say, 'Standard question'. We need to get you to a hospital."

"No, we don't. I'm fine," she lied, resting her head on the toilet bowl and closing her eyes. She felt extremely weak and sore, but she wasn't going to admit that.

He apparently already knew that, though, as she heard him scoff and press his hand lightly against her forehead. "You're not fine. You just threw up, you're pale, and you're about to pass out. Again, Sam, so please let me get you to the hospital."

"Let me just lay here for a minute first," she grumbled, shrugging his hand off of her.

"No. Thirty seconds only." Despite her shrugging his hand off of her back, he placed it there again. "This reminds me of Jazz's pregnancy. The sleeping, the fainting, and the vomiting," he laughed. "You both even got sick at the smell of meat."

Sam groaned in response, wanting him to be quiet for a minute or two so that she could rest, but then something dawned on her.

Pregnancy.

"Oh, my God," she said to herself, on the verge of panicking.

She had already known all of the early pregnancy symptoms, but despite her own symptoms, pregnancy was the dead last thing on her mind. She had honestly thought that she was just running a fever or getting her period.

"What?" Danny asked, becoming completely perplexed when she scrambled to her feet and started to hyperventilate. "Sam, what the hell? What's wrong?"

"I-I," she stammered in-between breaths, or gasps, rather. Everything was spinning in her world and she felt like the ground was melting beneath her feet. "I have to get to the store. I have to get there now."

She attempted to swiftly bypass him, but he grabbed ahold of her shoulders to stop her from leaving. "Go to the store for what?" he questioned. "There's no way I'm letting you drive or go alone. I'll take you. Just let me go get my keys and Amaya—"

She ignored him and shoved him aside, rushing out of the bathroom. She heard him following behind her as she stomped away, but she paid him no attention and continued on her way.

She snatched her car keys from the key holder and grabbed her phone and wallet before striding towards the front door. Danny attempted to clasp onto her arm one last time, but she pulled it away before his fingers could connect.

She wasn't mad at him at all. If anything, she was puzzled. She wasn't thinking straight, but the only thing on her mind at that moment was the store. She needed to buy at least two or three pregnancy tests, but that wasn't going to get done quickly enough if he and Amaya had tagged along with her.

She pulled out of the driveway and took off down the street. The nearest store was about a minute drive away, so she chose to keep the radio off the entire ride there. As she propelled her vehicle down the street, she inhaled and exhaled deeply, trying to ease her mind.

"I'm not pregnant," she told herself, staring at the road ahead of her. "I can't be." She shook her head and tightly grasped onto the steering wheel. "Okay. Calm down, Sam. You're getting yourself worked up over nothing. This is all just a false alarm."

She turned into the parking lot of the store after she arrived and shut off her engine. Her phone started to ring from its place in the cup holder, and after glancing at the screen to see who it was, she chose to ignore the call because it was Danny who was calling.

She got out of the car, taking her belongings with her, and then made a beeline for the entrance of the store. Though there were about five or six people shopping or browsing around the aisles, the checkout line was empty.

She knew where the pregnancy tests were located because she had gone to that specific store plenty of times in the past and happened to pass by that section once or twice. She basically ran to that aisle and snatched up three tests before going to the checkout line.

Being too impatient, she chose to do the tests in the restroom of that store after purchasing them. She was glad that the building was somewhat free of customers because that most likely meant that the bathroom area was free of people as well.

She only took two of the three tests, opting to save the third one for another time in case her first two tests came out positive. She nervously sat in the stall of the restroom, shaking like a leaf in the wind as she waited for the test to finish.

The test was supposed to take five minutes before a result was given, and according to the timer on her phone, she still had twenty seconds left. She buried her face in her hands and bounced her leg, waiting and waiting pretty much impatiently.

Then, the timer on her phone went off. She started breathing quickly because she was feeling extremely anxious, but she eventually decided to just be bold and peek at both of her tests.

With a deep breath, she mustered up enough courage to check her results.


	12. Feels Like A New Beginning

**author's note: hiii. thank you all for reading and reviewing. means a lot. :) I just wanted to say to the Guest who said, "Sam is the type of girl to have a coat hanger abortion': ...anyway**

* * *

**Chapter Twelve**

Sam returned home later that night around seven. She wanted to take a few hours to herself, so she busied herself by running a bunch of errands. She was exhausted and wanted to sleep by the time she was finished with everything, so she caved in and went home.

Upon entering the house, the first thing she noticed was that the whole place was dark. The only lighting that was visible was located in the living room, where she discovered Danny. He was sitting on the couch and staring at the television, which wasn't turned on.

"Hey," she greeted softly as she entered the living room. He glanced over at her, but didn't really address her. She frowned and kicked off her shoes before shuffling towards him. "Where's Amaya?"

"I dropped her off at my parents house for the night since they really wanted to spend some time with her," he replied, not even attempting to look at her. "I'm going to pick her up tomorrow morning."

"Well, wake me up before you go because I'm going with you." She sat beside him on the couch and glanced sideways at him. "So, why are you sitting in the dark? Are you okay?"

"You know, I could ask you the same question." He finally turned his head towards her, appearing more hurt than upset about her earlier episode. "You just snapped for no reason and booked it out of here without even telling me what was wrong."

"I didn't snap for no reason," she admitted, looking away from him and towards the television screen instead. "I panicked because you were saying all that stuff about my symptoms being related to Jazz's pregnancy symptoms."

"But I didn't mean anything by that. It was just a passing observation," he responded, sighing.

"No, don't worry about it." Sam closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. "You were right, by the way. I am pregnant. I took two tests earlier after I left and they both came out positive."

She felt the couch shift roughly, which seemed to suggest that Danny had shot up from the couch. She opened her eyes and stared at him, not knowing how to feel about the shocked expression plastered on his face.

"Y-You're pregnant?" he stammered, his face blanching as he spoke. She nodded, growing more and more nervous as the seconds crawled by. She expected him to start leaping with joy, but instead, he was just standing there and gaping at her.

"Yeah." She slowly took a few steps towards him, bouncing her index finger in place. "I am, and you know what? I'm absolutely terrified." Since she was feeling overwhelmed with everything that was going on, she began to tear up. "I really am, Danny."

He blinked several times before replying with, "Sam, I—"

"Let me finish." She clasped her hands together and bowed her head, drawing a deep, shuddering breath. "I've always been told that kids hold you back, that they stop you from living, you know? I didn't want that. I really didn't want to settle for that."

She thought he was going to interrupt her again, but instead, he simply nodded his head, signaling that he wanted her to continue. A lot of feelings and words were rushing through her head, so she chose to say the first thing that came to mind.

"I really don't know what I'm talking about right now. I guess all I'm saying is... I want this, Danny. I want to try this. Even though I'm scared out of my mind, I want to try. It'll be a whole new and different learning experience for the both of us."

Danny retained his surprised expression, but he finally found his voice. "Y-You really want this?" he asked. Sam nodded. "What changed your mind?"

"Honestly? Finding out I was pregnant completely took me off the fence about the subject," she confessed, laughing slightly. "I still hate children, don't get me wrong, but this child is going to be my child. I could never, _ever_ hate something that's apart of me."

The half-hybrid cracked a smile for the first time, but as soon as it appeared, it disappeared. "Do you still have the tests you took?" he inquired, sounding hopeful.

"Uh, no. I only took two of the three that I bought—"

"Please take the third one right now," he interjected. Sam was officially confused; he had been harassing her for the longest about wanting a child, and now that she was finally having one, he was being extremely short about it.

Rather than interrogate him or show him that she was hurt by his lack of reaction, she did as she was told and went into the bathroom by the living room with her purse. She had the third test tucked inside of her bag, so she pulled it out and got to work.

Five minutes after taking the test, she didn't hesitate this time to check her results. As expected, there were two lines, letting her know again that she was, in fact, pregnant. She walked out of the bathroom and handed the test to Danny, who had been waiting outside.

He took it from her and stared at it intensely, his eyes growing as wide as saucers. "Oh, my God." He leaned his back against the wall and shook his head in disbelief. "Holy crap. I can't believe this."

Sam awkwardly shifted on her heels. "What does that mean? Do you not want—"

"I'm going to be a father," he said quietly to himself. He then quickly looked up at her, his eyes lighting up and a toothy grin gracing his features. "I'm going to be a father! Yes! Woo-hoo!" he cheered, throwing his hands up in excitement.

He picked her up afterwards and threw her over his shoulder, spinning her around. She held onto him and started laughing, more satisfied with his genuine reaction.

* * *

Instead of being asleep at six in the morning the way Danny was, Sam was wide awake. She had her hands pressed against her abdomen and was feeling for any sort of movement, even though she was aware that she wasn't going to feel the baby kicking that early.

Baby.

She still couldn't believe that there was a little human forming inside of her. The whole thing felt so surreal, which is why she was up so early trying to check if it was actually reality.

"I'm pregnant. I'm really pregnant," she whispered, more with fear than excitement. "Holy crap. I'm actually pregnant." She swept her hair out of her face with one hand and took a deep breath. "Wow."

Her eyes welled up with tears from an emotion that she was unsure of. Maybe it was fear, maybe it was shock, or maybe it was disbelief. She couldn't quite touch on what that feeling was, but then again, she didn't really want to at the moment.

She immediately started having doubts; what if she couldn't do it? There was no way that she was a natural nurturer the way Jazz was. A bunch of 'what if?' questions raced through her head, doing nothing to alleviate her anxiety.

She fell asleep thirty minutes later and woke up again around nine in the morning. This time, Danny was awake and sitting on the bed instead of lying down and sleeping. Upon noticing her waking up, he smiled warmly and shifted his body to the side to face her.

"Hey, beautiful." He leaned over and pursed his lips, ready to steal a kiss, but she moved her head away and looked at him funny.

"Beautiful? What's with the pet name?" she asked him, lifting an eyebrow. He smirked, skipping over that question and settling for pecking her cheek instead. She smiled and rolled her eyes, sitting upright in bed. "Why are you up so early?"

"Nine isn't that early, but I went to pick up Amaya," he answered. When she frowned at him, he held up his hand. "I wasn't going to wake you up just to go get her from my parents house. You needed the rest. Besides, she's here now."

"Oh, yeah?" Her eyes flicked over to the door with a small hum. "Where?"

"In her room. She was still asleep when I brought her in, so I just tucked her into bed." Danny reached down into a bag by his feet and pulled out two thick books, handing one of them to her. "By the way, I stopped at the store and got these."

Sam accepted the book and curiously surveyed the cover of it. "Being pregnant with one is lots of fun," she monotonously read, shaking her head. She opened the book and started skimming through it with a snort. "What is this?"

"A pregnancy book. You know, for... pregnancy." He flipped open his book and started browsing through it. "I haven't exactly read it yet, but I figured it would help us with-"

The front door swung open at that moment as Amaya entered the room. She glanced from Danny to Sam, and once she saw her aunt, she grinned and ran towards her. "Aunt Sam!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms around the woman.

Sam chuckled and, surprisingly, hugged the child back. "Hey, kid." She moved her arms from around Amaya and leaned back a bit. "I'm guessing that you missed me."

"I did! Where did you go yesterday?" the girl inquired, slightly pushing Danny to the side so that she could sit in-between them on the bed. "Did you go to the mall?"

"No," Sam answered.

"The park?"

"No."

"The zoo?"

"No... why would I- nevermind." She glanced over at her half-hybrid spouse, who merely shrugged at her. She briefly closed her eyes and gave a dismissive shake of her head. "I'm here now. That's all that matters."

Amaya nodded and clasped her arms around Sam, giving her another hug. "Well, don't leave anymore. Okay?"

Sam's heart began to swell and a tender smile formed at her lips. "Yeah." She curled her arms around the younger girl and rested her chin on top of her head. "Did you eat breakfast yet?"

"No because uncle Danny picked me up too early," Amaya complained, prompting Danny to laugh and stand up.

"Then let's go get you some breakfast." He extended his hand out to her, waggling his fingers. She took his hand in hers and tried to pull him out of the room, but before she did, he asked Sam, "You coming?"

"Oh, nah. I'm going to get some more sleep if that's okay," she answered. He nodded his head and left with Amaya, shutting the door on their way out. Immediately afterwards, Sam grabbed his phone from the nightstand and started going through his contacts.

After finding the name that she was searching for, she pressed call and raised the device to her ear. It rang for a few seconds, and for a moment, she thought she was going to be sent to voicemail, but then the person answered.

_"Hello?"_

Sam cleared her throat and inhaled gently. "Valerie? This is Sam."

* * *

**a/n: this story is finally almost over. ah. i might go back to doing one-shots after this because whew, these long stories aren't the move. feel free to pm me if there's a specific one-shot you'd like to see. i don't bite!**

**also, just wanted to say: rest in peace, Cameron Boyce. you'll forever be loved and missed by all of us. xx**


	13. The Floor is Lava

**Chapter Thirteen**

"Me and Amaya said we wanted to do something fun," Danny told Sam later that afternoon as they strode down the grocery aisle of a supermarket. "How did we end up coming to the store?"

"Because you two jumped in the car while I was backing out of the driveway." She surveyed the shopping list in her hand and moved briskly down the aisle, her long hair bouncing with each step. "We can do whatever shenanigans you want after I'm done."

He frowned at her. "I wasn't going to pull any shenanigans. I just want to go to the movies or the park." He stopped at the beverage aisle and picked up a pack of beer, smiling. "Ooh."

"We always go to the park or the movies. We need to do something else." She reached over and snatched the beer from him, placing it back on the shelf. "Something new. We could go to the museum, the arcade, or even bowling."

"I'm still banned from that new arcade that Tucker introduced us to," Danny reminded her, rolling his eyes. "The museum is boring and bowling is for old people." Sam glanced over at him, her right eyebrow peaking slightly.

"Bowling isn't for old people, the museum isn't boring, and you got yourself banned from that arcade." She stared down at her notepad and dismissively flicked her hand through the air. "Go get me a shopping cart, please."

"I got you." The Halfa swiveled towards Amaya, who was walking beside him while concentrating on a video that she was watching on his phone. "Amaya? You want to come with me to get your aunt a shopping cart?"

Her head raised up at him and she smiled cheerfully. "Can I sit in the basket?"

"Uh, duh. Of course you can."

Sam scratched her head and watched as the pair set off to hunt down an available shopping cart. She couldn't help but note how Danny was incredibly great with Amaya. He played an active role in caring for her, which made her feel confident that he'd be a great father to their child.

She shook her head and sighed, mentally debating on whether she should continue shopping or just stand there and wait for them to return. She decided to do the latter, passing time by browsing through the various items on the shelves in that section.

She did that for about a minute before she heard, "Dun, dun..." coming from the end of the aisle. Curious, she turned her head in that direction, but nobody was there. She shrugged and looked away, but several seconds later, she heard, "Dun, dun..." coming from the opposite end.

"Is that from Jaws?" she murmured to herself. Somebody was pranking her, so she walked down the aisle and looked to the left and to the right, but nobody of suspicion was creeping around.

She narrowed her eyes and pivoted over her shoulder, but because she didn't expect to see Danny standing right behind her, she jumped slightly. "Boo? Jeez, Sam. I didn't even get to scare you first," he groaned.

She pushed against his shoulder with an irritated glare. "You scared the crap out of me." Her gaze flickered to the right, where Amaya was standing beside the shopping cart that he had chosen for them to use. "At least you got the cart."

Danny scoffed. "Of course I got the cart. What's the first item on your list?" he asked her.

"Well, it was bread, but you crossed that out and put snacks on it instead, so I guess that's where we're going."

"Snacks!" Amaya cheered, no longer paying attention to her uncle's cell phone. He took it from her and stuck it in his pocket as she bounced on her heels. "I need chips, cookies, candy, and—"

"Permission from your mother," Sam finished, eyeing her niece sternly. "Remember what we said about that? Besides, the snacks are for your uncle." When Amaya's lips started to quiver, she immediately followed up with, "But I'll gladly buy you a new toy while we're here."

"Nice negotiation skills," Danny remarked in a whisper, smirking as Amaya hopped up and down like an over-excited rabbit. "Though she's always going to want a toy whenever she can't get her way."

"Yeah, well, she leaves tomorrow morning." Sam cleared her throat and decided to push the cart. "Let's just get started with the list."

They searched around for the snack aisle, but while they did that, Amaya tugged on Danny's sleeve and told him, "Uncle Danny, the floor is lava!" She then started to count down from five, which confused Sam.

She watched as her twenty-eight-year-old husband swiftly dived into the nearest ball cage of the store. He sunk towards the bottom of the cage and some of the balls slipped out through the holes, bouncing around the store.

Fortunately, there weren't too many people around to witness that, but she still felt greatly embarrassed. "Danny, what the _hell_ was that?" she demanded. Behind her, Amaya was giggling, watching him struggle to get out of the cage.

"It's a game called 'The floor is lava'," she explained. "You have five seconds to get off of the floor or else the lava will get you."

Sam wanted to say that that was a stupid game, but she figured it was for children, so she refrained from saying that. Danny successfully climbed out of the cage and was now working on tossing the balls back into it. "That was fun," he remarked.

"If by fun you mean completely idiotic, then, yeah. That was a blast." She veered the cart to the left, turning into the snack aisle. "You guys are going to get us kicked out of here if you keep playing that."

"Not if we play it correctly," Amaya replied, following behind the woman. "Can you please play with us aunt Sam?"

Before she could even say no, Danny chimed in with, "Yeah. Please, Sam?" It almost sounded like he was mocking her. "I mean, this _is _Amaya's last day with us."

Amaya nodded her head, puffing out her lower lip and pretending to be sad. "Yeah! Please?" she pleaded, closing her hands together in a begging manner. "This is our last day of fun."

"Nothing about this day has been fun, but fine," she reluctantly agreed, sighing in defeat. "Don't expect me to throw myself into the ball cage like your uncle just did, though."

"As funny as that would be to see," Danny responded, "you can't do that. In our rules, you can't run back to the same places."

She tossed her notepad into the cart and pushed it down the aisle. "Well, there's no place in this aisle that I can run to in time." After she said that, he and Amaya both looked at each other before looking back at her, grinning. "What?"

"The floor is lava, aunt Sam," Amaya said with a mischievous glint in her eye. Sam scoffed and swept her gaze around the aisle, not at all intimidated when her niece began counting down from five.

Instead of sprinting for the ball cage or jumping onto a shelf, she grabbed the handle of the shopping cart and stood on the back of it. "And that's two points for me," she announced smugly. "One for being quick and one for being smart."

Danny scoffed. "That's not being smart. That's being lazy." Amaya nodded her head in agreement. "Me and Amaya give points for creativity, so you get none."

Sam raised an eyebrow and looked back-and-forth between them. "Are you guys teaming up against me? If so, I understand. The weaker people tend to team up against their strongest opponent."

The Halfa rolled his eyes and grabbed a random bag of chips from the shelf, tossing it into the cart. "If you say so. Just expect the unexpected."

She didn't really grasp what that meant until they reached the toy aisle and Amaya exclaimed, "The floor is lava!" There was absolutely nothing, besides the shopping cart, that she could jump on in time to be safe.

She rushed over to one of the shelves, kicked off the toys at the bottom, and then stood up on it with a groan. "I feel like a freaking idiot," she admitted. "Can I forfeit now and save my dignity?"

"No," Danny replied from his place in the basket of the shopping cart, where he had jumped into for the game. He climbed out of it and touched his feet to the floor, smirking. "Winner has to cook dinner tonight."

"How's that an incentive?" Sam asked. "That's so backwards."

"Well, the loser has to eat it, and when I win, I'm cooking something gross for you." He held out his hand, his smirk growing into a sly grin. "Deal? I mean, you wouldn't want to eat any chicken or ribs, right?"

Her mouth hung open; boy, did he play dirty. "Fine." She recovered from her surprise and shook his hand, returning the smirk. "Only because I enjoy the misery you feel whenever I make you something healthy to eat."

After the mall incident, she was positive that he wasn't actually going to cook anything pertaining to meat, so that's why she started to feel more confident about their deal. Once Amaya picked out a toy five minutes later, Danny called out, "The floor is lava!"

Amaya was quick, darting for an empty space on a nearby shelf and squeezing herself in there, but Sam wasn't as lucky. She apparently couldn't use the cart or the shelves as a safe place, so she had to resort to something else.

Danny.

Without thinking twice about it, she ran forward and jumped right on his back, holding onto him tightly. He was caught off-guard by that and lost his balance, toppling to the floor with her. They both lay there for a few seconds before erupting into laughter.

"What was that?" he questioned, trying to control his laughing fit. "I'm not sure if I should give you creativity points for that or not."

Sam sat upright and slung her hair over her shoulder, shaking it out. "I'd better! I could've easily forfeited." They continued chuckling there on the floor until one of the store employee's marched over and cleared her throat.

That's when their laughter ceased.

* * *

"I can't believe it's really your last night here," Danny said softly as he, Amaya, and Sam sat in the hammock of their backyard later that evening. "It feels like you just got here."

"I know," Amaya agreed, sighing sadly. "I've had so much fun here. I enjoyed going to the park, the movies, and the store, even though we got kicked out today."

Sam curled her arms around the little girl's shoulders and laughed nervously. "Don't repeat that last part to your mother tomorrow."

"Or _ever_," Danny chimed in. Amaya nodded, not pushing the topic any further. For a long while, they all sat there in the hammock and enjoyed the cool night air in a comfortable silence.

That silence was eventually broken by the sound of Amaya crying.

"What's wrong?" Danny, being the more compassionate one, asked, comfortingly raking his fingers through her hair. Sam leaned over and rested her cheek on top of the girl's head, tightening her arms around her.

"I really miss mommy, but I also don't want to leave you guys," Amaya answered, sniffling. "I've had so much fun here."

For some reason, Sam felt like her heart cracked after hearing that. She was so used to Amaya being around the house, giggling or playing with her toys. Hell, she was even used to her niece throwing a tantrum, so to wake up and not hear any of that...

It was going to be strange.

"Well, if it's any consolation, you can visit us whenever you'd like. You know, assuming it's okay with Jazz." She closed her eyes and sighed softly. "You've had fun with us, but now it's her turn to have fun with you."

Danny smiled tenderly and moved his hand down from Amaya's hair, placing it against her back. "That's right. Then, once you guys have fun, we'll have fun with you again. It'll be a back-and-forth thing."

"Do you guys promise?" she asked, glancing over at both of them. "We can have more adventures together? Like when me and aunt Sam ran from that scary man at the store the other day?"

Danny's eyes shot wide open and his head abruptly swiveled towards Sam. "You did _what_?" he demanded, the last word coming out high-pitched. She sheepishly averted her gaze, but fortunately for her, Amaya changed the subject.

"Or when uncle Danny accidentally threw a ball too hard while we were at the park the other day and it broke somebody's car window. The person wasn't around, so he made us run—"

She was cut off because Danny placed his hand over her mouth and nervously smiled at Sam, who was scowling darkly at him. "She's just kidding. That didn't actually happened," he said, shaking his head. "Kids these days, am I right?"

Of course she wasn't convinced, but since she couldn't change the past, she dropped the issue. "Well, we certainly can't have anymore adventures like the ones you just said, but we can have other ones. You know, both safe and legal ones."

"We promise," the half-hybrid swore, extending his pinky towards his niece. Sam copied him, holding out her own pinky. Amaya's lips curled into a warm smile and she linked her pinkies with theirs, confirming the promise.

They all sat there on the hammock, laughing and sharing stories until Amaya fell asleep on Sam an hour later. The woman didn't realize her niece had fallen asleep until Danny called out, "Sam?"

"Hm?" she answered, oblivious. She didn't turn her head to look at him until she felt him nudge her arm. That's when she peeked down at Amaya and chuckled once. "Oh. Right. I guess I'll bring her inside."

She felt a little weird about carrying the sleeping child inside because that was usually something Danny did. He was the main one to tuck her in at night or even just get her ready for bed, but she didn't mind taking on that role for the night.

After tucking Amaya into her bed, she leaned over and kissed her forehead. "Goodnight, kiddo." She normally wasn't an affectionate type of person, but somehow, that changed with Amaya. "See you in the morning."

She closed the room door on her way out and sleepily trudged towards her own room, where Danny was already lying in the bed. "Hey," he greeted. She crawled beside him and pressed her back against the headboard.

"Hey," she replied. He moved his head onto her lap and stared outward at the door. Her hand slid over, resting on top of his head. "I can't believe I'm actually admitting this, but I'm going to miss that kid."

He hummed, nodding gently. For half a minute, he was silent, but then he spoke. "Thank you, Sam. Seriously, thank you."

"For what?" Sam wondered, frowning.

"For everything. The progress you've made with her is incredible. I'm happy that you've been trying with her instead of bailing on the whole babysitting thing."

She started to absently play with his hair, smiling teary-eyed. "You know, I did want to bail at first. I really didn't think I could do it, but I did. I'm surprised and a little proud of myself. Things are going to be so weird around here without her."

"Yeah, that's true, but soon, we'll have another child around here," Danny murmured, and she could practically hear the smile in his voice. "I don't think I've asked this today, but how are you feeling about everything?"

She knew he was referring to her pregnancy, so she answered truthfully. "I'm still in shock about it. It doesn't feel real." She stopped playing with his hair and just let her hand sit there on his head. "I used to swear up and down that I would never have a child."

"But now you are." His head slightly turned so that he was now facing up at her. "We're going to be amazing parents. I know you're scared about this, but just remember that I will _always _be right here for you. _Always_, Sam."

"I know," she whispered, stroking his hair again. "I know."

Neither of them said anything else and just slipped into a comfortable silence the way they did earlier. It was only broken by the faint sound of Danny's snoring ten minutes later.

Sam took that as her cue and carefully slipped out from underneath him, setting his head on a pillow. Once she was certain that he was out, she grabbed her wallet and her cell phone before silently exiting the room.

She tried to be quiet as she went down the stairs, which she ended up successfully doing. After she grabbed her keys and put on some shoes, she crept out of the house, gently shutting the door behind her.


	14. A New Chapter In Life

**Chapter Fourteen**

Sam impatiently drummed her fingers against the surface of the table that she was currently sitting at. Across from her was Valerie, who she had just dropped the pregnancy bombshell on. To her confusion, the woman didn't do anything but stare at her.

She tolerated that for a few seconds, but after a full minute crept by, she started to feel perplexed. "I just told you that I'm pregnant and that's all you're going to do?" she asked. '"Stare at me like I simply stated my name to you?"

Valerie rolled her eyes and pulled her glass of juice closer to her. "Well, I don't know what you want me to say. I already knew you were pregnant." Nonchalantly, she moved her head forward and sipped from her straw, missing Sam's shocked look.

"How the hell did you know before I even told you? It's not like I told Tucker, or-" She then paused, narrowing her eyes. "Danny told you, didn't he? I swear I'm going to kill him."

"Technically, you'd have to half-kill him since he's... never mind." Valerie leaned back against her seat and folded her arms across her chest. "He didn't tell me, by the way. I already knew before both of you did."

Sam was confused by that. "What are you, a psychic?"

"No. Just smart." Valerie steepled her fingers together and smirked. "Danny told me what happened with you the day you guys went to the mall. He said you were exhausted, nauseous, and got sick around the smell of burgers, so I put two and two together."

Sam wasn't at all surprised that Valerie had pieced that together before Danny and herself did. This was the woman who had gone through the same symptoms before, so she didn't dare question her.

"Right. Well, I literally don't know what to do now, and since you're the only person I know who has any experience besides Jazz..." she trailed off, her eyebrows lifting. Valerie understood where she was going with that and nodded.

"I get it, and to be honest, I can't tell you what you should do or how you should feel because every woman is different. Every woman thinks differently. You could be feeling shocked while another woman is feeling excited," she said.

Sam clamped her lips together and hummed, slowly nodding her head. "That's true, I suppose. I just feel so unprepared. I know nothing about babies and taking care of them," she admitted. "I barely knew how to babysit Amaya at first."

"Exactly. _At first_. Now, you probably know her a lot better. Raising your own child will be a whole different experience because you'd be growing up with him or her. You'd already know them like the back of your hand."

"You're probably right."

"I know I am. Plus, there are classes you can take and books you can read to help you," Valerie continued. "Danny's going to do it with you, too, obviously. Speaking of Danny, where is he?"

"At home, asleep."

"But it's only nine-thirty."

"You'd be surprised how quickly Amaya can tire someone out." Sam perched her elbows on the table and clasped her hands on either side of her head. "I would've strongly preferred to have a child when I was good and ready for one."

Valerie snorted. "That's life for you. There's no point in stressing over it now. Mistake or not, you made that baby, so now you're going to have to suck it up and deal with the responsibilities that come with it."

The only reason why Sam didn't take offense to that was because she knew the woman had a point. She sighed heavily and raised her head up. "You're right. It's just an overwhelming situation for me. I still feel a little numb about it."

"The thing about being numb is that once that feeling goes away, you're going to feel the emotions even harder than you normally would," Valerie murmured. "But you'll be okay. Motherhood is a beautiful journey."

"Yeah, well, I'll see how it goes. I can't believe I'm really going to be a mother." Sam moved her fist to her mouth and stared down at the table. "I mean, in a way, I'm sort of excited, but fear overshadows that."

Valerie shrugged, scooping up one of her fries and popping it into her mouth. "That's natural. What exactly are you afraid of, though?" she asked. "The pain? The responsibility?"

"No, no. Just… what if I'm not a good mom? What if I turn out like my own? I mean, I appreciate the woman, but she wasn't really someone I wanted to be around."

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that feeling of fear probably won't go away. I can say, however, that after your baby is here, that feeling will change into a different and more positive one."

"I hope you're right," Sam replied, her faint smile growing subtly. "I still can't believe it. I'm really going to have a son or a daughter. Danny's been wanting this for ages, but I just haven't been ready."

Valerie reached out for another fry, but made no effort to eat it this time. "By the way, what was his reaction to your pregnancy and what was your reaction?"

Sam raised her gaze up at Valerie and then rolled her eyes a bit, retaining her smile. "His reaction was something you'd expect. You know, joy and excitement. My reaction, on the other hand, was to freak out and rush out of the house."

"Oh," Valerie drawled, clicking her tongue. "That definitely sounds like you. No offense."

"None taken." Sam pulled out her cell phone and checked the time, frowning after seeing that it was almost ten o'clock. "I should head home now. We're getting Jazz from the airport early tomorrow morning."

"Okay." Valerie nodded once. "Night."

* * *

_Sam checked her wristwatch before flicking her gaze outward and around in a search. "Where are they?" she muttered to herself. A minute later, she spotted who she was looking for and grinned._

_"Hey, mom!" her ten-year-old son exclaimed, sprinting towards her while grasping onto his soccer ball. She chuckled and, after he reached her, clasped her arms around him. He returned the hug with one arm as Danny approached them briskly._

_"You missed the game," he told her, leaning over to kiss her on the cheek. "His team won by two points."_

_"Really?" She pulled away from her son and held up her hand. "Nice job, Cameron." The young boy flashed her a grin and slapped his palm against hers. "Wish I could've seen you in action on the field."_

_"You'll come to my next game, right?" he asked her, taking one small step backwards and casting her his signature pleading face. "I scored the winning goal!"_

_Her expression softened and she playfully ruffled his hair. "Of course I'll be there, buddy. I just had to pick up your cousin Amaya and take her to her cheerleading practice because her mother got caught up at work. That, and I had to run a few errands."_

_Danny nodded. "Understandable. Well, now that you're here, how about you treat us to a victory brunch?" he suggested, his eyebrows waggling. Sam rolled her eyes and gently nudged him aside._

_"Last time I checked, Cameron was the one who scored the winning goal that led his team to victory, so the brunch would be for him." She rounded the car and tossed up her keys, catching them deftly. "Nice try, though."_

_"Oh, come on! You used my car to drive him here, so I get to participate in brunch, too."_

_"Dad has a point," Cameron interceded, climbing into the car and shutting the door. Once inside, Sam turned over her shoulder and, again, playfully ruffled her son's hair._

_"This doesn't concern you, little man." She flashed him a quick smile before twisting back around in her seat._

_"Hey, it can concern him if he's defending me," Danny chimed in, sliding into the passenger seat. He also turned around and gave Cameron a fist bump, prompting Sam to scoff and shake her head._

_"Typical of you guys to team up against me," she quipped, turning her key in the ignition. "I'm totally hurt."_

_Cameron laughed softly. "You know I love you, mom." He leaned forward and curled his arms around her, pulling her into a weird-angled hug. "Want a kiss on your cheek, too?"_

_He made several attempts at kissing her cheek, all which she shot down by trying to lean away from him. She couldn't stop herself from laughing, though, and she heard Danny chuckling beside her._

_Playtime was over a minute later, so she straightened up and was right about to shift the car into drive when she felt her half-hybrid husband grasp her arm. "Sam, wake up," he told her, confusing her._

_"What?" she asked._

_"Come on. We have to get to the airport," he continued, further perplexing her._

_"Danny, what are you talking about?"_

* * *

"Come _on_, Sam. Get up." When Sam opened her eyes, the first thing, or person, she saw was Danny. He was lying beside her on the bed, staring directly into her eyes. That's when she saw him frown. "Sam, what's wrong?"

His question didn't sound like a question. To her, it sounded more like a statement, as if he already knew something was up. "What do you mean?" she asked, her eyebrows curling together.

He didn't say anything and, instead, swept his index finger under her eye and wiped away a tear that she hadn't even realized was there. "You're crying. Well, you _were _crying. In your sleep, though? What did you dream about?"

She instantly realized that she had forgotten parts of her dream, but one thing she remembered in particular was her 'son'. "Cameron," she whispered, blinking quickly to rid herself of the tears that were forming in her eyes.

_"The thing about being numb is that once that feeling goes away, you're going to feel the emotions even harder than you normally would."_

She also realized that Valerie was correct about that statement because right then and there, her wall of numbness collapsed and all of her pent-up emotions were unleashed.

"Whoa. Why are you crying?" Danny demanded, sitting upright and leaning closer to her once she started to break down. She quickly understood why he was so concerned; this was rare. She wasn't really one to cry, especially not around people.

"Honestly? I have no freaking idea. I'm just feeling a lot of different things and it's confusing me, I guess." She closed her eyes and kept them shut, allowing a few tears to slip down her cheeks. "I had a dream about our child."

For a moment, the Halfa was silent, but once he spoke, his words came out in a stutter. "Y-You had a... a dream? About our _child_?"

Sam inhaled deeply, nodding once. "Yeah, I did. Our son. Well, I mean, the boy in my dream was our son." She felt him brush her hair out of her face, but she kept her eyes closed. "I was so happy, Danny."

"So, these are happy tears, then?" he asked her. Her left shoulder raised in a half-shrug.

"I don't know. He was a spitting image of you. His name was Cameron and he played soccer. After his game, he ran to me all happily and hugged me because he scored the winning goal for his team. I'm just confused."

"Confused about what?"

"Confused because these aren't tears of happiness." Her eyelids slid open and she drilled her eyes right into his. "These aren't tears of sadness, either. They feel more like tears of... disappointment. I kind of wanted that dream to be real."

Danny's penetrating eyes narrowed into slits as he studied her face closely. "What are you saying?"

"I'm _saying_," she started, shrugging again, "screw it. It's time I face my fear instead of running from it. All of this stressing is pointless because at the end of the day, I'm still going to be pregnant. We made this child, so now—"

Danny swiftly moved his head forward and cut her off with a tender kiss. She was caught off-guard by that, but she quickly recovered and returned the gesture. Once he pulled away, he jumped out of bed with a huge grin. "Sweet!"

* * *

"Okay, so one of us can go inside with Amaya to get Jazz while the other one drives the car around so we don't get a ticket," Danny told Sam as he pulled up to the pickup and drop-off lane of the airport.

She guessed that she'd be the one to drive the car around since he and Amaya were so close to each other. "I'll do it," she volunteered, shrugging. "Just don't take your sweet time getting her."

"No promises." He was about to get out of the car, but as soon as Amaya spoke up, his movement ceased.

"I want to go in with aunt Sam." She slid over to the right side of the car and opened her door. "Come on!"

Sam was shocked to hear that, so it took her a few seconds to properly react. "You want... to go in with _me_?" she asked, opening her door and stepping out of the car as well. Amaya confirmed her answer by nodding and grabbing onto her aunt's hand.

"I guess I'll be the designated Uber driver for today." Danny waited until the passenger's door was shut before driving off. Sam, still surprised, simply stood there until Amaya tugged her towards the entrance of the building.

They wandered through the terminal, searching around for Jazz. Her plane had landed ten minutes prior, so she technically was already supposed to be outside when Danny arrived. The fact that she was nowhere in sight baffled Sam.

"She would've said something if there was a problem," she murmured to herself, walking forward. "Maybe she got lost."

Amaya gasped, looking horrified. "Mommy's lost?" Sam had completely forgotten that the child was standing beside her within ear-shot, so she instantly swooped in to assure her.

"No, no! She's not lost at all."

"Then why isn't she here?" Amaya looked around once more before bowing her head with an expression of defeat etched on her face. "She's not coming, is she? She ditched me again."

Sam said nothing and just squeezed her niece's hand gingerly. Jazz had pulled something like that once before: she revealed that she had missed her flight fifteen minutes after they got to the airport to pick her up.

"Maybe we missed her walking past us. She's probably back outside." Sam turned over her shoulder and was about to make a beeline for the exit, but a familiar face stopped her right in her tracks.

"Or maybe she's right here," Jazz retorted, grinning.

"Mommy!" Amaya shouted, throwing her arms around her mother and squeezing her. Jazz sighed happily and returned the embrace after dropping her belongings, kissing the side of her child's head.

"My princess. Oh, my gosh. I've missed you so much." She kept the hug going for half a minute more before separating herself. "You're all I've been thinking about. Are you feeling okay?"

Sam watched their interaction with a tender smile. It was a crazy feeling to know that in a few years, she'd be in that same position with her own child. She wanted to feel that same amount of love, warmth, and happiness for her kid the way Jazz was.

Speaking of Jazz, she took Amaya's hand in hers and stood from her squatting-position. "Hey, Sam." She stepped forward and curled one arm around the raven-haired woman, pulling her into a hug. "Thank you so much. Seriously."

"Ah," Sam said dismissively, shaking her head and returning the gesture with one arm as well, "it was nothing. Amaya's an amazing child. I'd be happy to babysit her anytime."

"Glad to hear that." Jazz moved back and smiled, the corners of her eyes crinkling. "I know you probably don't want to hear this, but if you ever decide to have children, you're going to be an amazing mother."

That probably would've annoyed Sam had that been said months prior, but now that she was pregnant, it made her feel joyous. "Well," she began, moving her hands to her stomach, "I'll remember that in nine months."

Jazz was puzzled for a fraction of a second before her entire face lit up. "You're kidding!" She forced another hug onto the woman, this one being much tighter than the one before. "I'm so happy for you guys! When did you find this out? How did you-"

"Jazz, Jazz!" While laughing, Sam patted the excited woman's back as a sign that she wanted to be released. "I'll gladly answer any questions you have in the car. Danny's lapping around so that we don't get a ticket."

"Oh, shoot. Sorry!" Jazz scrambled for her abandoned belongings with the help of Amaya. "You'll answer any theories I have, too, right?"

Sam frowned. "Why would you have any theories about this?"

"Why would I not? I can tell you some right now," answered Jazz. "The first one is going to take a while. So, you know how..."

Sam groaned, but couldn't fight the big smile that pried its way onto her face. Never in a million years did she think she'd end up in a situation like the one she was currently in, but never in a million years did she think she'd be happy about it.

She was ready for this new chapter in her life.

* * *

**author's note: thanks for reading**


	15. Nine Months Later

**Epilogue**

Tucker checked his cell phone for a few seconds before glancing up from his screen. "Okay, everyone! Danny's pulling up with her now. Assume your positions!"

"What position?" Pamela huffed. "All we're supposed to do is stand here by the door and yell, 'Surprise!' when Samantha walks in. I mean, this baby shower seems a bit lazy, don't you think?"

Jazz rolled her eyes and gingerly clasped Amaya's shoulders, pulling the child close to her. "What did you expect? Fireworks and a catered buffet?" she asked, adopting a flippant tone. "Sam didn't even want a baby shower, so simplicity works here."

"But this is hardly the place for a baby shower!" Pamela spread her arms outward and slowly dragged her gaze throughout the apartment. "You expect a pregnant woman of nine months to climb up those dangerous stairs outside and come into this tiny place?"

"With all due respect, Mrs. Manson, just because you almost tripped in those six inch heels of yours while coming up the stairs doesn't mean they're dangerous," Tucker replied, shaking his head. "And my apartment isn't that small."

"Well, why couldn't we throw the shower at Samantha and Daniel's place instead? Surely there's a lot more space there."

"Because it doesn't really matter where it's held," Maddie chimed in, sounding uncharacteristically irritated. "It's _what _we're celebrating that matters."

Pamela scoffed, but dropped the subject. "Whose idea was it to throw this shower just seventeen days before she's due? That wasn't a very bright idea. She might not even be physically up for this."

"I agree with my wife." Jeremy crossed his arms and stubbornly turned up his nose. "This whole thing was poorly executed."

Whilst keeping her eyes trained on the pair, Jazz leaned towards her mother and whispered, "Did we really have to invite them?"

Maddie frowned. "Yes. They're Sam's parents."

"Exactly. You know just as well as I do that she doesn't want them here."

Tucker then started to frantically shush everyone after peeking out of the window. "They're coming up the stairs!" He properly adjusted his curtains before backing away. "Is everyone ready?"

"Yes!"

"No."

About half a minute later, the front door swung open, and in walked Danny and Sam. He had one hand pressed over her eyes and the other one curled around her waist, guiding her into the apartment.

"I really don't like surprises, Danny. Just tell me what this is already," she said impatiently, blindly moving her hands around.

"Okay, okay." He glanced up at Tucker for confirmation, and once he was given the greenlight, he retracted his hand and grinned.

"Surprise!" everyone in the room chorused, all of them sounding enthusiastic with the exception of Pamela and Jeremy. They looked both disgusted and displeased, and for some reason, that satisfied Sam.

"Wow." She surveyed everyone standing before her: her parents, Tucker, Jazz, Amaya, Maddie, Jack, Valerie, and a bunch of other people she considered acquaintances. "I don't even know what to say."

Pamela strode over to her daughter and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I just want you to know that your father and I had _nothing _to do with planning this shower," she said, blatantly ignoring Danny's presence.

To the woman's surprise, Sam smiled and replied with, "I know. That's the only reason why I can tolerate it." While retaining her smile, she towed Danny to the side and lowered her voice above a whisper. "I said I didn't want a baby shower."

"It's not really a baby shower. It's more of a small gathering with gifts included." When she raised an eyebrow at him, he sighed and decided to backpedal a bit. "My mom and Jazz thought you deserved this. I couldn't exactly talk them out of it."

"But I'm exhausted and my entire body hurts," she groaned. "I really don't want to sound ungrateful, but how long are we going to be here for?"

"Not long. Tell you what. I can shut this whole thing down right now and reschedule it after the baby is born," Danny suggested, but she shook her head at that.

"No, no. Everyone went through the trouble of getting here, so I'm just going to suck it up." She inhaled deeply and turned around, facing her party guests. "Hi. I don't really like surprises, but I appreciate this."

Pamela eyed her daughter closely. "Really? You appreciate _this_?" she asked dubiously. "Well, I can only imagine how much you'd appreciate something your father and I set up for you."

Sam said nothing and simply glared at her mother until Jazz came over and pulled her away. "Sorry about the sudden surprise, Sam. I know it's way too soon, but-"

"It's fine, Jazz. Really." Sam's eyes swept downward, where Amaya was standing and staring at her with a timid smile. "Hey, kid. I'm glad you're here."

"Hi, aunt Sam. Your mom is really mean."

Jazz gasped and glared disapprovingly at her daughter. "Amaya Soto, that is _not _a nice thing to say!"

"It may not be a nice thing to say, but it's certainly the truth." Sam ruffled her niece's hair and winked at her. "You don't have to worry about my mom. I do."

Jazz rolled her eyes as they shared a laugh and a fist bump. "Anyway," she drawled, "let me get you to a chair or something." She placed a hand on Sam's back and stared down at her belly. "You look like you're ready to burst."

Sam chuckled, shuffling over to a chair in Tucker's living room. "I honestly feel like I'm about to. I remember how torn up I was nine months ago when I first found out I was having a baby."

Jazz took a seat beside her, flicking her eyes outward at everyone who had attended the party. They were now dancing along to some music that Tucker had put on for them. "And how do you feel now?" she asked.

"Ready. I feel ready," Sam admitted softly. "Ready for my child to get here, ready for the pregnancy symptoms to stop, and ready for my parents to get off my back." Jazz laughed at that one. "No, seriously. They're driving me and Danny insane."

"Well, to be fair, their daughter is having their grandchild after swearing she wouldn't ever have kids, so their excitement is understandable."

"True, I guess." Sam moved her hands to her belly and smiled. "Soon."

Tucker danced his way over to them, twirling around with a present in his hands. "I come bearing a gift for the baby. You'll have to open it later because I know you don't like crying in front of people."

She scoffed at him, but accepted the gift that he handed her. "Is this an onion? Because that's the only reason I'll ever cry over receiving a gift."

"It's not an onion. Open it and see. You'll be crying like a baby."

Danny, who had overheard their conversation, approached them with a glass of wine in his hand. "You really think you're going to get a tear out of her? Dude, she laughed during _The Notebook_."

"Because it's a comedy," Sam responded, shrugging nonchalantly.

"No. It's a drama and romance movie," Jazz corrected, frowning. Sam's eyebrows rose high, like that piece of information genuinely surprised her.

"Oh." She paused for several seconds before dismissively flicking her hand outward. "Well, the drama part was a comedy to me."

Danny reached forward and took the present from her. "She'll open this later tonight. I'll let you know if she cries." He and Tucker chuckled with each other, prompting the women to roll their eyes at them.

"Oh, yeah. I'll for sure be crying," Sam responded tartly, rising to her feet with the assistance of Jazz. That's when she felt a popping sensation, followed by an immediate gush of warm fluid.

"Wow. I've never seen someone cry like _that_," Tucker murmured as he watched the liquid drip down to the floor. He leaned sideways towards Danny and told him, "I think her water just broke. Congrats, man."

Danny, whose eyes were as wide as saucers at this point, raised his glass of wine to his lips and downed the rest of the drink in one gulp.

* * *

**Author's note: Okay, majority of the reviews are readers begging for either a final chapter update or a sequel, so i'll give you both. Stay tuned for a sequel. It's coming up. In the meantime, enjoy this cliffhanger. :)**


End file.
